Moonrise
by Tavina
Summary: "You've got the regard of a king, and you'll be a queen easy enough in another couple of years. Why would you hope to marry a mainlander?" In which Uzumaki Kanae makes the decision to marry Uchiha Madara. He is not included in this discussion. But it really wasn't her smartest idea. Companion piece to Sunfall. Onesided MadaHashi (But not really onesided.), HashiMito, and MadaraxOC.
1. This Dance

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"Perhaps one day, they'll understand

All the sacrifices that she gladly made

Out of love for them."

-John Mark Green

* * *

The Senju arrive on the Island under the direction of Asuran, one of the members of the border guard. Kanae herself had volunteered to bring them across, but there is little reason for a princess to exert herself for a party of mainlanders.

Even if they are important mainlanders. Even if she is only the younger princess.

She's sitting with her father when they arrive, all four of them. The first to step through the door is Senju Hashirama, the one who'd written to her elder sister, written _of_ her elder sister, written soppy poetry about the shape of her eyes that Neesan had shared with her over tea and cakes.

 _Another desperate suitor._ She thinks, though she knows that this one is different. _Neesan loves this one or she wouldn't be so happy to see his letters arrive._ She examines him, and finds that there's nothing particularly remarkable about him. He has dark hair and dark eyes, tanned skin, and a smile.

Perhaps it is the smile that has won Neesan's heart so. Neesan has spent some time in the Senju camp teaching their healers. And she could do a lot worse than the head of a clan who seems to be on the rise in the Land of Fire. _I just wish that it wasn't so far away._ "Uzumaki-dono?" He asks.

Chichi extends a hand in greeting. "Senju-dono."

The next is Senju Tobirama, who seems to be wearing a permanent scowl. He has white hair, and red eyes, and looks nothing much at all like his brother. He says nothing. Kanae privately decides that he could do with some lightening up. Perhaps the dancing would help loosen his tight muscles. If not, he must be a lost cause.

The third is a woman, that she does not know the name of, who silently comes to stand behind Hashirama's shoulder. She is probably an important member of the Senju clan, if she is here in the same meeting as the clan head and his brother, but Kanae isn't too worried. It would be simple to ask for a name later.

And the last is Asuran, who bows first to his liege lord, and then secondly to her. "Taicho." He says. "The border is secure." He means to say that there have been no disturbances besides the Senju party then. Various ninja from the Land of Water had been sighted earlier in the month, but it seems as though nothing else has been picked up on, so far.

She nods. "That's good." He offers her an arm, and she rises, a quick bow to her father, "I'll take my leave then, Chichi," and the rest of the room. "Best of luck in your endeavors, Senju-san." From the corner of her eye, she notes that Senju Hashirama blushes.

 _How interesting. It seems as though he's the type to be easily embarrassed. This could be interesting._

"Go as you will, Arashiko." Chichi waves her away, and she leans in to kiss his cheek quickly.

"Make him squirm for Neesan." She whispers.

Chichi chuckles, but doesn't say more.

The conversation starts as soon as she slides the door shut behind her. She hears Chichi's casual comment about drowning unworthy suitors, and the hasty reassurances from Senju Hashirama that he really does love Mito, no Uzumaki-dono, please, he means it.

The last she hears is Chichi's quiet laughter.

"There's been no sightings of the Hoshigaki?" She asks, conversationally as she and Asuran stroll down the street, arm in arm.

"No, Taicho." He responds. "I have spoken with Ilya-atawa no Sumire, but her people haven't seen anything either."

"Not Habiki-san?" She asks. Sumire-san is less reliable than Habiki-san.

From beside her, Asuran laughs, the sound golden in the morning air. "Not all of us speak to kings on a daily basis, Taicho." He leans in closer. "If I have to stake my bets, you'll be marrying him. He seems quite taken with you."

She prods his shoulder with ill grace. "Asuran-kun, it's mean of you to tease. Habiki-san is most certainly being obfuscating just because he can."

"Do you see him calling anyone else Lovely Girl?" The man beside her cheerfully whistles a tune, something that sounds like a cross between the cries of a gull, and a magpie.

She smacks his shoulder. "Ichiro-usahaya no Habiki is king of his court, and he's paid compliments to practically every girl on the island. Besides, he only calls me that because Niisama does."

Asuran says nothing further, just keeps whistling as they wander down to the beach.

* * *

Kanae sits in her neesan's room the day before the wedding, as Mito herself tosses kimono about. "What am I supposed to wear to see him?" She runs a hand through her red hair, and turns around and around. "How am I supposed to dress? My hair's a mess, oh Kami, what if he thinks I'm some sort of-"

"Neesan!" Kanae laughs, and comes forward. "You'll wear the cream kimono of course. It'll bring out the cream of your skin." She sits her sister down, and leans in. "You could wear a sack and you'd still be beautiful enough to be a goddess that's fallen out of the sky, and far too good for some mainlander."

"But-but-" It seems that her sister is hardly convinced.

She presses a finger over Mito's lips, and sighs. "You're an Uzumaki. We're all of us pretty, but you're the prettiest of us." And it's true. Uzumaki Mito has a heart shaped face, expressive dark eyes, and a smile that could charm the stars from the sky.

Kanae has always loved her sister's smile. "And if you don't believe it, I believe it enough for both of us."

Mito pulls on the cream kimono, and Kanae ties the obi. Then she turns to her sister's hair. "One bun or two?"

Mito closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and looks at herself for a moment in the mirror of the vanity. "Two."

The next few minutes are spent silently, as Kanae tucks and pins and twists all of Mito's hair up into two buns, as she slides the pins to keep it in place, and then, at the very end, after she's pinned in the tags, she slides open the drawers of the vanity, and pulls out a golden comb.

She slides that in between the two buns. "Perfect." She whispers. "He'll love you more after this." _He'll love you so much that he'll take you away in less than a few weeks, and you'll leave all of us for good._ Something of her heart stutters. _Who will I be without Neesan?_

"You think so?" Mito asks her, as she carefully powders her neck, and face. "He hasn't seen me in over two years."

"I know so." Kanae tells her, hands on her shoulders. "You'll charm everyone tonight." Privately, Kanae tells herself that if Senju Hashirama is not charmed, then he doesn't have eyes in his head and ought to wind up dead of poison in his soup.

Thankfully he does, because when they head into the central hall, his eyes are drawn immediately to Mito. "Mito."

Kanae withdraws as he moves closer. Her sister snaps open the bottom half of her fan, and bows forward politely. Hashirama does the same, something excited, something fearful in his eyes, and Kanae considers it a job well done.

She watches them for a moment longer, the awkward but still sickeningly sweet way they dance about each other, and considers it practically final. Her sister is leaving them all behind quite soon.

"Excuse me," she turns, and finds Senju Tobirama standing behind her.

He'd been so quiet that she hadn't even noticed. She straightens, and tries not to let her surprise show. _Even if I had been distracted by how happy Neesan looks tonight, he still has to be really good if he could surprise me. It would seem that I have to train harder._ "Yes, Senju-san?" She asks him.

His face is still about as expressive as a cliff. _The cliff might be more expressive._ She decides. "What does your sister want from my brother?" He asks her.

She blinks. "As far as I know, his love, forever and ever, would be great." _If only she didn't want him. Even that dratted Hoshigaki suitor that she slighted would be closer to home._

The man beside her snorts. "Tell me the truth."

A cynic then. She frowns. "That is the truth, Senju-san."

"She went out of her way to ensnarl him." Senju Tobirama is beginning to grate on her senses. "She wants something from him, and you will tell me what that is."

"Neesan loves him. She wants him to love her too." She can hardly raise her voice right now, but she doesn't need volume to cut him. "You don't know anything about women do you?" He flinches slightly. She doesn't give him time to respond. "A woman in love pursues what she wants. As far as I am aware, she wants him, and that's it, though heaven knows why, he seems like every other man there is in the world. Have a nice night, Senju-san." No one would ever be good enough for her sister, but Neesan _likes_ Senju Hashirama and that would have to be enough for Kanae to be content.

She turns on her heel and leaves him. It had been a nice night until the younger of the Senju Brothers appeared to ask nasty questions as if Neesan was no more than a-a woman of ill repute. _Mainlanders know nothing about Uzu._ She would have to find a way to embarrass him later.

It's bad enough that Neesan made her preferences so clear over a man who clearly isn't worth it.

* * *

"He clearly isn't any good if his brother thinks Neesan is a woman of ill repute chasing after a man with worldly possessions or titles." She's sitting on the rocks, complaining perhaps, but her listener is attentive, and it doesn't seem as if her mood bothers him much. "Maybe he's really just charming her, but he really loves another."

She should be inside dancing. They would miss her, because normally she loves dancing and if she skipped out on the whole night Neesan would be worried. If she tries the right tactic, he might even be compelled to come in and dance with her.

Habiki-san flips a strand of blue hair over his shoulder. "Little Kitten seems to like him well enough, and she is not a bad judge of character, Lovely Girl."

"Love has made her blind, Habiki-san. She didn't even notice that he's absurdly clumsy or that he writes really bad poetry. She has more taste than this most of the time." She tosses a stone out onto the water, thinking. _Neesan laughed a suitor of hers off of the Island for writing her bad poetry. Why does Senju Hashirama's bad poetry make her sigh and giggle?_

He hums under his breath, leaning back, dark hair spilling over the rocks like water. "Love makes everyone a fool at one point or another, Lovely Girl." His statement surprises her.

"You've never been a fool for love." She hasn't seen it in her lifetime. She hasn't heard any stories about the youkai king beside her being a fool for anything. He has lived centuries as a king, and much longer a life before that without making a fool of himself.

"Hmmm..." He sighs. "No, Lovely Girl. I am just as much as a fool as your sister." He peels himself from the rocks. "But we should head in for the dancing, should we not?"

And she likes to dance, and it's even better with such an experienced partner. "We should." She agrees, and he takes her hand.

Tomorrow her sister will get married, a week from now, and Uzumaki Mito will vanish from the shores of Uzu, but at least tonight, she's dancing with a friend who was old when music was young, and he is excellent.

She should be the happiest girl in the world, so of course, the Senju mainlanders manage to ruin that too the next night.

* * *

Senju Hashirama appears before her as Neesan is being tucked and pinned into her wedding kimono. Or more precisely, he asks if he can enter, and really knowing that he shouldn't see the bride before she steps out for the walk to the shrine, it's Kanae that steps out.

"What do you need, Senju-san?" He looks like a wreck, and that does not impress her much. _Could you look more like you're about to walk to your doom?_ It cements the idea that he loves someone else more than he loves her sister in her head, but of course, she cannot say that to Neesan, couldn't even think it in her general direction.

Mito would say that he looked cute. That he's just nervous, but Kanae herself doesn't believe one word. _Before Senju Tobirama questioned my sister's motives, he should question his brother's._

"I-uh." He stumbles over his sentences, and attempts to call up that blinding smile again. She is completely resistant, and crosses her arms over her chest, and waits for him to talk. "I-DoyouknowifMitolovesmeatalloramIjustbeinganidiot?"

She blinks. "Of course, she loves you." Mito practically swooned over his bad poetry. She's decided that it's okay to give up everything that she knows for this idiot. "And of course, you're an idiot, Senju-san."

He slumps into a comical depression. "She's never said so, and I'm nervous and I'm very sorry to bother you..."

"Kanae." She tells him, because clearly he's forgotten her name. "Uzumaki Kanae."

"Kanae-chan." He says, and slumps further.

She brushes away the strand of irritation that she feels. He's in no position to call her Kanae-chan just yet, but still he does it anyway.

Senju Tobirama appears to drag his elder brother away, and they exchange glares over his shoulder. _I dislike my sister's in-laws already._ She decides.

"Did he have something he needed to tell me?" Mito asks turning anxious eyes in her direction as she steps back in to finish her sister's hair.

"No, nothing. He was just being nervous." She'd hardly tell her giddy sister that the man had asked if she loved him, of all the daft things. It would ruin her mood, and Kanae would not be breaking her sister's heart if she could help it.

* * *

She sings, in a high voice that Neesan often calls sweet during the ceremony, and asks the Kami to bless Neesan, bless Hashirama, bless Konoha, and while she's asking for blessings, she throws one in for Tobirama for good measure as well.

The reception that night is interesting. Habiki-san's come back to dance with her, and pretty much only her, as he tells her inane stories about the things he's seen over the years, and she waits for a spare moment to threaten Senju Hashirama with castration when it happens.

Tobirama, she's taken to referring to him with no honorifics in her head, opens his big fat mouth, and puts his foot in it. "So, why are you marrying my brother, woman?"

Neesan's fan snaps shut, and she draws herself up to her full height, which is still half a head shorter than him, and jabs his chest with her folding fan. "Because I love him." She hisses, something dark moving in her eyes.

Hashirama laughs, and rubs the back of his neck. "Tobi, I told you that you should stop."

"I won't." Tobirama steps forward towards Neesan, and Kanae drops her arms. Beside her, Habiki-san stiffens. "I want to know." Tobirama says, something dangerous in his tone. "Why you fell in love with my brother." He says fell in love as if the phrase is a curse.

Kanae is willing to agree with him. Neesan falling in love with a man that had an idiot for a brother is certainly a curse. She pushes her way through the shell shocked crowd, and hopes that she'll get there before any of the four of her brothers in attendance tonight. If Masato-nii or either of the Terrible Twins got to him before she did, Senju Tobirama might find himself food for the fishes. If Korui-nii got to him he might never walk again.

"Because he sees me as a person, not as a prize to be won." Neesan says back to him, but there's hurt in her eyes, that she cannot disguise. Kanae wants to put her hands around the idiot's neck and wring it herself.

Although she really isn't sure if Hashirama really sees Neesan that way. Neesan is quite a prize to win for a man who has nothing but a matchstick city.

Her hand lands on Tobirama's elbow and he whirls around to face her. "A dance, Senju-san?" She asks, a smile on her face, one that bares most of her teeth. _You'll be lucky if you don't get your tongue ripped out._ For the first time, she is absurdly grateful that Kyoya-niisama is not in attendance, or the night would end in bloodshed, and Senju Tobirama fed to the sharks.

"I don't dance." He blinks at her, stupidly in the light of the dying sun, and she ups the wattage of her smile.

"I insist." She purrs in his direction and drags him forward, onto the floor and away from Hashirama and Neesan.

He is shocked enough to follow her. She casts Habiki-san an apologetic glance, and he waves at her resignedly before stepping out, back down to the beach. Clearly then, she's lost her dance partner for the night as well.

"My brother doesn't need a weak woman." Tobirama hisses under his breath. "And as far as I am aware, none of you have fought in any sort of war."

She glances at the seal on his chest, the one that Neesan had applied so casually while poking him with her fan, and decides that he could use a lesson in humility. _Who do you think you are speaking to?_ The hand that holds his wrist has ended lives with nothing more than a few drops in a nobleman's tea.

She could end his life as easily as passing him a drink. Knowing his arrogance he'd take it.

"Osuwari." A quick twist of chakra later, and he plummets to the sandy ground. She steps over him, heading for the beach. "I don't think you dance very well, Senju-san."

From behind her, she hears the applause of the crowd. "That's our Little Kanae!"

 _It was Neesan who did the hard work._ Seals that altered gravity are difficult to apply, and she'd been touching Senju Tobirama only a few moments through a fan no less.

Habiki-san is long gone by the time she makes her way down to the rocks.

She's lost her dance partner for the night.

And she's beginning to think that she hates everything Senju.

She heads back to threaten Senju Hashirama with slow castration with a wooden spoon should he so much as put a toe out of line.

He stares at her stupidly for a moment and bursts out laughing.

She is not amused.

* * *

She wholeheartedly agrees with this idea, especially when three days later, Neesan hugs her tightly and whispers a goodbye in her ear before stepping out onto the water.

Hashirama himself calls her Imouto in the most obnoxious way, and kisses her on both cheeks before he returns to stand by Neesan's side.

Tobirama glares at her, and she lifts her chin and glares right back.

She dislikes it even more, when Chichi calls her to his study a week later. "Arashiko," He sighs, and looks as though he's aged a decade in a week. "Please sit down."

 _He misses Neesan as much as I do._ But her anger burns hot today. Neesan's first letter back to her had confessed that it would take some trouble to win over her new husband's brother. _He could have prevented her from leaving. He could have forbidden it. He could have drowned Senju Tobirama in the bay before he insulted everything about us._

She storms from the room and goes out diving for pearls. She finds nothing, and Habiki-san still will not speak to her.

It takes her another three weeks to speak more than two words stringed together to her father.

It is late when she slides open the door to Chichi's study and crosses his floor to where he sits, a scroll open on his lap, an abacus by his right hand. "We are low on rice again." He says to her, by way of conversation.

"I am sorry for ignoring you, Chichi." She whispers, her head on his shoulder. Uzumaki Ashina is a king, but he is far more lenient to his daughters than his sons. "I will not do it again."

"I hope that you do not." He tells her, even as he raises a hand to smooth her hair. "It has been hard not hearing your songs."

They sit there for a long moment, silence stretching out between them, until she remembers that Chichi had opened their conversation with a remark about the rice stores. "We are low on rice?" She asks.

He sighs. "Yes. I am trying to decide how much will go to each mouth." His head is bowed, and his shoulders slumped. "We may have to go without."

If he is so worried, it is more than their immediate household that will have to go without. There'd been times over the years when they'd eaten less, all of them, to survive a particularly vicious winter, or when the summer drought struck the fields harshly, and the trade lines ran dry. They have few alliances on the mainland, if only because they spent little time considering the mainland. They fought off invaders from the Land of Water who wanted to consume Uzu, and they had skirmishes with the Land of Lightning, who wanted more land on the water, and they tried to not offend people from the Land of Fire, who were for the most part, willing to leave them alone.

It is a delicate balance on most days.

But now they have an alliance. "Write to Konoha." She offers. "Ask Senju Hashirama to send us rice." It sticks in her throat, the thought of begging. It is why they are a nation, not a territory. A nation spanning seven islands, with this Island being the main one. A small nation, but a nation nonetheless. "We could sell them something."

"I will not." Chichi says, and squeezes her shoulder. "I have nothing I can afford to sell them worth the amount of rice we need."

"Surely they'd give us some, even if it isn't enough." She asks him. To see him so worried, it must be that another clan has cut alliances. She wonders which one it is. She wonders if she is skilled enough to poison them. It probably wouldn't help the situation either way.

"I will not be marrying you off to Senju Tobirama." And it's a vicious note that Chichi's voice hits now. "I will not." He rises, and stands at the window, watching the waves over the summer sea.

It really is desperate then, if he's thought of selling her hand to Senju Tobirama.

"We paid out a great deal for Neesan's dowry to the Senju then?" She asks. Her good hearted Chichi must have spent more, must have, because the wedding had been elaborate, and he must not have asked for much in return.

He can't do the same thing again. _I am considering marrying a man I despise._ She thinks, and considers how long she would last before she poisoned Tobirama's dinner if she ended up married to him for true.

 _Not long at all._

"Well." She says, coming to stand by his side at the window. "If I am not to be married to Senju Tobirama, what about the other clan inside Konoha?"

If the Senju will not send food there is no point in marrying one of them, but the Land of Fire is rich, especially with agriculture. It would not do to broker an alliance with another clan outside of Konoha, for Neesan's situation would then be terribly dangerous.

"The Uchiha?" Chichi's hands tighten on the ledge. "I have no desire to marry you to one of them either."

The Uchiha are...infamous, and it is unclear that they would be willing to send anyone to marry an outsider. She does not delude herself. She is the younger princess of an island kingdom with little more than her bloodline to offer.

"Ask them first anyway, Chichi." They both know that it would be better than say, asking a clan that has yet to join Konoha.

He nods, tired, sad, and hugs her tightly. "I am sorry." _Sorry that I ask this of you._

Now that she thinks about it, the wedding had hardly been that elaborate. It must be something else, that has depleted the rice stores halfway into this winter.

"No." She tells him. "I will do my best." _Do my best to win whoever it is that they send us. Do my best._

The next day, Chichi announces the situation over breakfast, and forbids every last one them to write a word about it to Neesan.

After breakfast, he ties a letter to the leg of a gull, and only Kanae knows the contents. That morning, after breakfast, after the letter, she walks down to the shrine, and lights three sticks of incense.

And prays that whomever the gods send her, it will be someone who agrees.

Outside the shrine, the children of the Island laugh, and celebrate the year's first snow.

Not a week later, the first child, a little boy named Katsu, falls sick.

Uzu holds his funeral when the ground is too hard to dig, and the ice has frozen even the whirlpools in the bay. Asuran drills the hole in the ice, and the entire city stands, dry eyed, as the priest reads his last rites.

* * *

 **A.N.** So this is the companion piece to Sunfall, entitled Moonrise, because I'm a sucker for matching titles. In which everything is in Kanae's point of view, which isn't always rational either, because well, neither Hashirama nor Tobirama are idiots, but according to her, no one's good enough for her elder sister. Don't worry, Madara appears next chapter, and things ensue. (Exactly the same way they did in Sunfall, so you might want to read that if you haven't read that yet.)

I'm getting really rather fond of Kanae and Madara right now. I'm not entirely sure why.

~Tavina.


	2. First Sight

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.

-Unknown

* * *

Chichi calls her into his office about month afterwards, as winter staggers through Uzu on dying legs. "Senju Hashirama wrote to me today." He begins.

"About Neesan?" She asks him, because what else would Hashirama have to write about?

"No." Chichi sighs. "It seems that the letter I sent gained some traction."

Oh. She'd made the suggestion. She'd made it, but-now that it is time to deliver, she feels her lungs fill with water. She'd be leaving soon, if all goes well.

She reminds herself that had they been earlier, Katsu-kun and several others might not be dead. They need this.

"Who's responding to the offer?" It didn't need to be too terribly important a man, just enough that he'd be able to sway some policy.

"You think I would settle for anyone less than their main household for you, Arashiko?" Even now, Chichi clings to his pride. He gestures for her to sit down, across from him. "Uchiha Madara himself is coming."

She rolls the name around in her head. _Uchiha Madara._ "I see." _That would be enough to save us._

Now all he has to do is agree. She considers what she knows of him. He is in his twenties, the leader of the Uchiha clan, and as of yet, unmarried. Perhaps he has pressure from within his clan to choose a bride. Perhaps he likes girls with red hair. She doesn't know why he's coming, only that he is, and that it is likely he will agree to the match, seeing as he is making the journey himself.

Chichi cups her head in his hands, and scans her face, as if trying to memorize her every feature. "You will always be a princess." He tells her. "My Arashiko."

She nods. "I will remember. I am the daughter of a king."

Chichi nods and turns back to his accounts, and she takes her leave.

She goes to sit with Tanaka-san afterwards, as he mends his nets. "Do you think that he'd like me?"

"Who?" The old man asks her. "Habiki-san? He already likes you."

It is only then that she realizes that most of the Island doesn't know that her hand has been promised to someone to the mainland. "No." She says, while holding up one of the ropes and he ties the metal trawling hooks at the cross knot. "I meant Uchiha Madara-sama."

Tanaka-san blinks. "Why would you be concerned with a mainlander, Little Kanae?" He raises the jug beside him to his lips, and takes a gulp.

"Because I hope to be married to him." She says this without a hint of sorrow. It is true that most likely he will not like her very much, that will be alright.

This way, the brightest thing in her day, is that she will once again be living in the same city as Neesan.

Tanaka-san spits out a mouthful of sake. "What did you eat to turn your mind, girl?" He ties the last of the fishing hooks onto the net, and frowns at her. "You've got the regard of a king, and you'll be a queen easy enough in another couple years. Why would you hope to marry a mainlander?"

She shifts in her seat. "Because he can send us rice, and Habiki-san can't?" They'd hardly be able to eat whatever it is that sea snakes ate, especially since Habiki-san eats once in a decade or so, and doesn't understand how important it is to eat three times a day.

She doesn't really want to marry Habiki-san anyways, and doesn't know why everyone else assumes that he'd be interested in marrying her. She is a little island girl just past her seventeenth birthday. He's a sea snake who has ruled the waters about them for centuries.

Surely he's met more interesting girls. Besides, her entire life has been no longer than an eyeblink for him. "And Habiki-san is just a friend."

"Well, if that's what you're getting married for, it hardly matters if he likes you, does it?" Tanaka-san says, almost bitterly. "Knowing that he's a fire breathing mainlander, he probably won't ever realize what he's marrying."

"You're right." Uchiha Madara, being an Uchiha as he is, most likely does not understand water. She rises with a sigh. She'd get no further with Tanaka-san. He's old enough to remember the last time Uzu warred with the Uchiha, he'd lost a brother and a sister to them, and Kanae doubts that he's forgiven and forgotten.

Asking had been a bad decision.

* * *

"Habiki-san?" She wanders out into the waters of the bay later that same week. Uchiha Madara-sama and his brother will be arriving hopefully, the next morning. She has to find Habiki-san before that, instead of hoping that he won't eat them should the Uchiha party attempt to cross the bay. "Habiki-san, I need to talk to you."

The water beneath her feet shifts, and she leaps back three steps. It is nearly not enough, as his head rises above the water. He is in his true form, in his snake form, and his head is wider than she is tall.

"What is it, Lovely Girl?" He does not shift to his human form. He sounds tired. His forked tongue flicks in and out rather listlessly.

She reaches forward, and carefully places a hand against his scales, between his nostrils. "We'll be having guests tomorrow." She tells him. "Two of them, Uchihas, please don't eat them should they intrude."

"I see." He murmurs, a hissing drag to his s. "And why are there going to be more mainlanders?"

"One of them is here to marry me." She says, rather plainly, because there is no point in denying it, he'd know quite soon if he doesn't know already.

It always seems that he knows things before she tells him about them anyway, but he prefers to be told even if he did know.

"I see." He says again, and this time, sounds quite faint. "Could I persuade you to stay?"

"If it were a matter of persuasion," She rests her head on his. "Then I would never leave."

He seems to consider it for a moment. "I won't eat them should they step foot on my waters." And then he sinks down again beneath the waves.

Not once did he shift to human form. The last she sees of him is the red tip of his tail above the water, but it seems as though he is diving quite deep this time.

She doesn't wait to see him rise.

That done, it is time to talk to Asuran, and the rest of the border guard. "You called for us, Taicho?" Asuran leads the other fifty or so men and women into their meeting hall, and Kanae looks around at them, and takes a deep breath.

Then she takes off the black haori that she'd worn for two years, and passes it to Asuran. "I will be leaving the Island soon." She says, and blinks in an attempt not to cry. "Make sure that you change the rotation of the guard so that I don't know the right way back in, and reset all of the seals."

"You're leaving, Taicho?" He asks, and something shifts in his blue eyes.

"You're Taicho now." She smooths the edges of the haori over his shoulders, though it's small on him. "I'm just Kanae-hime." _Soon to be just Kanae, formerly of Uzu._ "I am meeting my husband tomorrow." _If all goes well._

 _I will meet him tomorrow, and he will decide that he will have...pity on us. But then, if he is coming, it is likely that he hasn't a choice about this either._

The thought sticks in her throat.

Asuran pulls her in tightly, and then everyone else is on their feet, mobbing them as well.

* * *

She drags herself out of the water on the other shore, and stands there for a moment, wringing out her long hair onto the sand, a rope for the boat about her waist. There are men there, on the dune above her, and she assumes that these are the Uchiha she'd sent herself to fetch.

She wants to see them, wants to know how her potential husband reacts to strangers that he does not have to make nice with. She observes them both. The younger one has a black band tied over his eyes, and she considers that he might be blind.

The older man has shaggy dark hair, and a hard chin, and he is frowning at something his brother has said. They are both wearing armor, as if they expect to be attacked on the coast, which is reasonable enough, though mere armor would not stop Habiki-san from eating them.

She supposes that they don't know about that. It is lucky that she is here to greet them, luckier still that she had found Habiki-san yesterday, so they wouldn't be eaten.

She assumes the elder one to be Uchiha Madara, and the younger to Uchiha Izuna. He sets a hand on his brother's elbow and guides him down the slight crest of the hill.

He walks at his brother's pace. _He seems kinder than Senju Tobirama already._ Not...that Senju Tobirama is a particularly high bar to aspire to, but still.

"Do you know how we might find passage to Uzu?" The question is polite enough. His voice is deep and rumbles like evening thunder.

She turns, and blinks calmly. "Perhaps." She examines the two of them with care now that she can finally look them both, well the one that is not blind, in the eye. "And who are you two?" She knows quite well who they are, but it is still polite to ask.

His free hand clenches slightly. "Not your business."

She shrugs calmly. _A grouchy one. I suppose I can live with grouchy if he hasn't that many other faults._ "If you insist." She bends, and gathers the length of rope in her hands, pulling closely, and a very small boat breaks the surface, its hull gleaming dully in the weak morning glow. She hums as she dances back into the shallows to drag it onto the beach.

"Niisan." The younger one says after about ten minutes. He sounds like the more socially adept of the two of them. She wonders what Uchiha Madara would _do_ if his brother didn't jolt him into taking action. _Perhaps he would do nothing until I told him that he really ought to consider talking. He might be a post for all that he's moved in all this time._ "Stop being like this." He turns towards her with a good amount of accuracy despite the cloth over his eyes. "Miss? I'll tell you who we are."

She smiles. "Oh. So you must be the reasonable one." The thought that normal social interaction would make him more reasonable makes her break out into giggles. "I know who you are, Uchiha-san."

"Then you must be?" He crouches down beside her, and it's almost like he can see. _I wonder if he has his eyes after all, and this is just to test our hospitality._ Uchiha Madara stands rigidly, as though he's nothing more than a post, and she almost writes him off as hopelessly boring.

She flips the rope over her shoulder, and scours the bottom of the hull carefully with a handful of sand. "You can call me Shiko." At his raised eyebrow, she clarifies. "It's short for Arashiko."

"Little Storm." Madara says at last. His voice is electric, and she can see a hint of emotion moving in his eyes, but it is gone as soon as it appears.

She shrugs. "Yes. It is what Chichi calls me." She is hardly going to tell him that she's the one he's travelled all this way for until she's cleaned up a bit at the very least.

"We're here to see Uzumaki Ashina-dono." Izuna says cheerfully. "Do you know him?"

Kanae almost laughs at this. _He's my Chichi, of course I know him._ But it suits her to shrug, and flip her hair over her shoulder. "I can't really say." She flips the boat over. "Can anyone be said to really know anyone else?" _I wonder how he reacts to people that are purposefully obscure._

"I assumed you were from Uzu, Arashiko-san." Izuna says, and she agrees that it is true.

"I am."

Madara cuts in once more. "Can you take us to Uzu?" _Impatience. I see. He doesn't play games, but his brother does._

She shoves the boat back into the shallows, right side up. "Get in the boat, Uchiha-san."

He hesitates for a moment, and she raises an eyebrow at him. _The first step to getting to Uzu is trusting the inhabitants, Uchiha Madara-sama._ Something like mutiny wars with necessity on his face. He gets in the boat.

Izuna fumbles slightly, but Madara offers him a hand, guiding him over the ledge. For an impatient man, caring for his brother must be difficult on his nerves, and yet if Madara is bothered by his brother's troubles he doesn't show it.

"Uchiha-san?" She inadvertently raises her hand towards the band over his eyes. "Are you?" She wants to ask if he's alright. There aren't any blind people on the island that she's met, and she wonders if it's the war that's done this to him-mainlanders are always fighting their wars-or something else, but he cuts her off.

"Blind, yes." Izuna smiles politely.

She turns away. Clearly, she's touched on something sensitive, for him to smile like he's in pain but unwilling to show it. Madara stiffens. It clearly concerns him as well. For a moment, the silence is total.

"How," Madara interrupts. "Are you planning on getting across the sea?"

And that is just so funny that she has to laugh. "How do you think I got here, Uchiha-san?"

She takes a running leap at the water, the rope still wrapped around her waist, and the boat shudders out to sea. She knows every eddy of every whirlpool. This boat is safe with her.

* * *

They'd passed around the storm still rumbling off the coast, and Uzu is in sight.

She takes the boat straight to the rocks, and disentangles herself from the rope casually. There are no people there to greet them. The rest of the village didn't expect them to be so early, but she had headed out at dawn just in case. It was probably a good idea.

She shakes out her hair, and bends down to twist it into a single bun over her head. "Come along, Uchiha-san. We shall go and see my Chichi, yes?" _I shouldn't have said that._ But her hands are still trying to twist her hair back into its bun, and she'd slipped when she didn't mean to.

She should have said Uzumaki-dono.

"You are Uzumaki Kanae." He says flatly. His eyes scan her, and she straightens, her chin up, shoulders back.

It does not look like he cares too much for what he sees. _I am sorry that I am not prettier like my sister, Uchiha Madara-sama._ She thinks, with rather mock sarcasm. _But I don't know what it is you dislike about me, so I can hardly change it. Besides, you're on the Island now, you're not turning around and going away so easily._

 _I need my nation to stop starving._

 _I will do what it takes._

"Yes." Kanae says at last, and meets his eyes. If she is to be exposed now, she will not deny the truth. "And you are Uchiha Madara."

"But you said that you were Arashiko, and now you acknowledge that you are Uzumaki Kanae?" Izuna-san sounds frustrated. He has right to be frustrated.

"Chichi calls me Arashiko." She says leads them to the village. She wants to explain herself, wants him to know that she didn't create a false name out of thin air, that the name she gave him was hardly false. "I did not lie to you, Uchiha-san."

The streets are bogged with spring mud, and she guides Izuna-san around the puddles. "My apologies, Uchiha-san. It has been a snowy winter. The streets are not yet packed well." From the corner of her eye, she is watching Madara.

Madara is looking around at the houses, at the shops, with...interest. She doesn't know why this sort of thing would be interesting, this is not the busiest or best part of the city, and they have been devastated this winter. Her home doesn't look like much at the moment.

 _It will be better in the summer, when we don't all look like we're starving._

"And here we are." They are home now, stepping into the courtyard. "Watch your step, Izuna-san." She whispers to the young man beside her. "There's a ledge at the door, about two inches."

He nods at her, gratefully, and steps over without making a fool of himself.

"Kanae!" It is Obaasan, who had been furious when Chichi announced the news, but grudgingly she'd accepted it. "I told you that today was the big day! How could you go running off-"

"Obaasan." She knows her grandmother does not approve. That does not change the fact that Uchiha Madara is right behind her, and that he is observing everything they do. They must make a good impression. "They are here already. And they would have left if I didn't head out to greet them this morning."

Obaasan looks him up and down, and seems to decide that he belongs to the general description of mainlander, that is to say, boring. She hadn't approved of Senju Hashirama either, but Neesan's love had overpowered every disapproval and left nothing but smiles in her wake. Smiles and empty stomachs, give or take. "You're Uchiha Madara, then? Hmmph." She turns back to Kanae. "Well, what are you waiting for? Ashina-kun is waiting to see them."

Kanae hids a smile behind her hand. "Of course, Obaasan. I shall bring them to Chichi directly."

"How old is your grandmother?" Madara asks as they walk.

Kanae blinks. _What a strange question to ask._ "She is seventy seven this year." She replies, because she is ill able to not reply. He'd asked a question, and he hasn't asked too many questions of her.

"Seventy-seven?" Izuna-san seems surprised. She's not sure why. "That is a great age indeed."

She muffles a giggle. _If you think that is old..._ "Tanaka-san is the oldest person on the Island, and he is a hundred and thirty-eight this year. Obaasan's young compared to him." She glances over at Madara, curious. "And how old are you?" What she knew of him said that he is in his twenties, yet, the bags under his eyes makes him look older. He has a handsome face, she decides, but he looks tired, drained, as though under a great weight.

For a brief flicker, she wants to tuck him away in a bed and let him sleep until he no longer looks like he's about to collapse. The thought goes away quite shortly afterward.

"Twenty-four." He replies, and says nothing more.

"Do you not fear being...attacked?" Izuna asks, his voice nothing above a whisper, but it is shaking with _something._ Something like awe.

"By Tanaka-san?" She tilts her head back, and laughs as she pushes open another door. "He might be an old grump, but he's not in the habit of attacking his clan head's children." Kanae thinks that there is something that she's missing, that he means something else, but for the life of her, she doesn't know what it is. She slides over the wooden floorboards and down the hall. "Chichi! The Uchiha are here."

He'd be happy to know it. He'd paced back and forth in his study for a week as the day drew closer, wondering if they'd come, if they'd accept it, if he'd have to give his younger daughter away, trade her for an alliance and food.

Chichi is waiting behind the tea table. "Uchiha-dono." He murmurs, dark eyes flashing. "And your brother, do sit." _He's going to use every shred of glamour in this conversation then. I hope it works._

Madara guides his brother to a seat and inclines his head to towards Chichi respectfully. "Uzumaki-dono."

Kanae heads for the door.

"Arashiko." Chichi asks, a frown on his lips. "Where are you going?"

"Pearl diving, Chichi." She turns, now that it is clearer than ever that she is leaving, the thought sits bitterly in her stomach, and tastes like week old clam on her tongue. "It might be the last time I ever enjoy the activity." Her words are resigned, nothing more. "After all, there are no oceans in Fire Country."

And then she steps out of the door.

* * *

Obaa-san catches her before she makes it across the courtyard with a bucket. "Kanae, come sit with me."

She nods, and heads over. "Yes, Obaasan?" It might be something important, or it might just be that Obaasan needs someone to talk to at the moment, and none of her brothers are willing to entertain the idea. It is probably the first option.

"You best be careful with that one, Little Storm." Obaasan says, even as her knitting needles flash. "His flame burns weak."

"Hmm?" She hadn't thought it really when seeing Madara-sama. He'd looked strong enough, though quite tired. "What do you mean, Obaasan?"

Obaasan sets her knitting down. "You could love him, child."

Kanae considers it. She supposes that she hasn't had the sudden desire to tuck Senju Tobirama into a warm bed and let him sleep off his meanness, but Obaasan says it as if it is a certainty that she _will fall in love with Uchiha Madara._

This, very privately, she doubts, but she nods anyway. "But you haven't explained what you mean."

"He's a man at the edge of despair." Obaasan says, and cups her cheek with a soft hand. "I've seen plenty like him. Men made of fire die by drowning."

She's still not sure that she understands. "We only drown our enemies though."

"You take what you can get from that one." Obaasan says at last. "That one's flame will flicker out soon, and marrying a woman of water won't help him much. You're good for many things, Kanae, but I don't know that you'll save him from his demons. They're thick and heavy on his soul."

Kanae nods. It is always good to be forewarned, but it's a different voice that wars inside her now.

All her life, she's never been told no before, never been told that there are things she cannot do simply because she's not capable of them.

It would do her little good if her husband died soon after marrying her, which seems to be what Obaasan is implying, and since he is a kind enough man, at least to his brother, from what she has seen of him, she will do her best to prevent his untimely death.

After all, she reasons. _I can always murder him accidentally if he really is cruel._

Obaasan sighs, and Kanae gathers up her bucket, and goes to collect clams from the sea floor.

* * *

She sits and pries open each shell individually, humming a sea shanty as she does so. The whaling boats will go out into the waters soon, and she'll have to bid the Terrible Twins goodbye with their crew.

With a pang, she realizes that she won't be doing that this year. _I'll be gone to Konoha before all the ice breaks and they're off to chase the whales and maybe meet Niisama on their travels._

The thought freezes the breathe in her lungs and she almost buries her face in her hands and weeps. But her hands are covered with slime, and it would not be the least bit hygenic, and she's already skipped out on speaking to Uchiha Madara, so at least she ought not get rotting clam in her hair.

But he appears, like a ghost, on the beach, and makes his reluctant way over. He takes a seat beside her, but pretends that he isn't doing this because she is here. It is almost funny, the little boy way that he acts.

"You are far from your residence, Uchiha-san." She observes, pulling a few more clams from the bucket. "Useless again." She tosses it into the second bucket. _It's probably going to be a day without pearls yet again._

"And you are?" He sounds interested at least, which she supposes is good. He's trying, which is something rather than nothing.

As he is here, he must have finished his talk with Chichi. He knows the stakes now, though she doesn't know if he's accepted.

"Harvesting pearls. It's a thankless task." As a mainlander, he might not think so. Most seem to believe that pearls grow on trees or something of that nature. They don't though.

"I have decided." He says all at once. "You will be...going with me when I leave." It's not the most romantic declaration that she's heard in her life, but it does fill her with enough relief. It's just the way that he's said it...

She raises an eyebrow at him. "You have decided? I didn't know you had a choice."

He narrows his eyes. "I had a choice." _Oh. Touchy and in denial. You hadn't a choice at all, if you agreed so quickly. I wonder who it is that's twisting your arm behind your back?_

 _Surely not your sweet brother._

 _It must be someone else._

"Well, then." Her voice is deceptively mild. "You must call me Kanae then, Madara... _sama,_ if we are to learn to live with each other." It is the first time that she's said his name outside of her head, and it's a strange word, and a stranger name. _Madara. Uchiha Madara. How interesting._

"Learn to live with each other?" He shifts on the rock beside her. "What is there to learn? You will be an Uchiha. That is all." _And ignorant. I wonder if you know what marriage is, you strange strange man._

"What makes an Uchiha, Madara-sama?" She asks him, because honest to goodness she's curious. "Is it their famous red eyes?"

He grunts, but says nothing.

"What does an Uchiha woman pride herself in?" Kanae taps her fingers against her thigh and thinks about it. She knows nothing of the dynamics of his clan, and only he can tell her. "Does she fight beside her men?"

His eyes trail up over her wrist and down the length of her leg, and then he tears his eyes away and stares at her face instead. He'd been thinking about something as he'd looked at her bare skin, but she doesn't know what it is exactly. Others had looked at her with lust before, often noblemen would, right before she killed them, but he'd looked at her with distraction. A distraction from what, she is not aware. "You will not be fighting. An Uchiha woman does not fight." Every sentence from him is like pulling teeth.

 _Will it always be this hard?_

"Well, that's nice." She examines her cuticles and tries in vain to not let the next sentence skip out of her mouth. It does anyway, because it doesn't care that her nation needs rice. "I do not much fancy being an Uchiha after all." She could slap herself, but she better start explaining before his touchy nature tells him that marrying her is a bad decision. She flips her knife into the air as she thinks about how to put her thoughts into words. "I understand though, that I have no choice in this matter. So you will have to tell me about yourself." That is not the right thing to say.

It's official. She has ruined her chances, and yet he stays.

His eyes fall closed. "No."

"No? Well, my name is Kanae. I enjoy the color blue. In my spare time, I am a seamstress." He seems distracted, but she's listed such a dry line of facts that she's sure she'll put him to sleep soon. _Sleep might be what he needs._ "In my daily life, I used to be the captain of Uzu's border guard, and the master of poisons. They called me the Red Viper." But he said that Uchiha women don't fight. She supposes that she has to hang up her dreams of being useful on a battlefield. "Do you have any dreams, Madara-sama?"

He blinks. "Hn."

She swings her feet back and forth, leaning back on both her hands as she stares out into horizon. She wonders if Habiki-san is out there, watching them. She rather thinks not, he'd been offended by her request yesterday. He is probably still sulking at the bottom of the ocean, where she can't reach. "You have to have some sort of dream."

"That is no business of yours." Dreams are another sore point then. She didn't know that before.

"I thought maybe," Kanae starts shelling the clams again. "That one of us could have a dream." For a long pause, all they hear is the clatter of broken shells as she tosses them into the discard bucket. "One dream that doesn't die." It sounds like a fantasy. Perhaps this is what Obaasan means by broken. What sort of man doesn't even have any dreams?

"And what is to say," he says, after a moment's thought "That the dream won't be yours?" He's clearly heard nothing of what she's told him then.

She's already set her dreams on an altar and drowned them.

She picks the last shell out of the bucket. "I will be leaving with you." She says, and her knife pauses without prying it open. "And afterwards, I will have no dreams." She pulls the two halves open, and digs something out. _A pearl. How lovely that it comes now._ "After all," She smiles at him, and tries to make it seem happy. "An Uchiha woman does not fight." She offers him the pearl. "Welcome to Uzushio, Madara-sama."

He holds it up to the light.

It is brilliantly red, and shaped like a teardrop. Something about it must have moved him, because he bursts into laughter, and it rolls out across the water, dark and deep. There's a note of hysteria to it, she observes, as if he's forgotten how to laugh.

That unsettles her.

* * *

 **A.N.** So we finally see Madara reach Uzu from Kanae's perspective. It's really quite interesting, how differently they think of each other in this particular first meeting. Also, I've noticed that Madara goes around describing everything in rather vivid detail, and likes to wax poetic about the color red (But of course he'll say it's headache red when talking about her hair in conversation.) and Kanae just...doesn't. Madara describes the imagery, and Kanae describes how other people act and how they are feeling according to her.

Thank you so much to Alizay, Fey (Yes, we do! And it's interesting to see how alike and how different they are. And well, Tobi...he thinks Hashirama needs to be protected, and he's got a very selective circle of people he cares for. Currently, Uzu people are not included. And yes, according to Kanae's mind, Kyoya is indeed marvelous.) and Miss Nanami-chan (Hmmm...yeah. Tobirama, Madara, and Kanae are such similar people. Maybe that's why they don't get along.) for reviewing!

And everyone else who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	3. Conversational Truth

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"She is water.

Powerful enough to drown you.

Soft enough to cleanse you.

Deep enough to save you."

-Adrian Michael

* * *

Korui-nii tell her afterwards that Uchiha Madara is insufferably rude. "But at least he doesn't seem to mistreat you, unlike that damned Senju bastard." He says, running a hand through his messy hair. It is universally acknowledged that Senju bastard refers to Tobirama and not any other member of his clan.

Thankfully, Neesan seems to be managing him. He'll learn quickly, if he hasn't already, that Uzumaki Mito is no wilting flower, or retiring shy maiden.

Kanae leans forward, and rearranges his hairstyle. Sometimes, Korui-nii gets a little too caught up in the seals that he designs, and keeps redrawing. He has ink splattered hands and an old soul. It's no accident that Niisama calls him 'Ink and Brush Boy' when Niisama is attempting to be fond. "You've gotten your hair a mess again, Korui-nii."

It seems as though there's a limit to Madara-sama's ability to reach out to other people, which is probably another side effect of his bone deep fatigue. She'd felt it rolling off of him like dismal waves when they'd sat and talked. Even talking makes him tired.

It's as if the world's drained him dry. She wants to fill him back up and watch how he'd act then, what he'd be like if he is happy.

"I don't know why we have to pretend to be richer than we are." Korui-nii gestures towards the window, where they could both see various people setting up for the party later tonight. "But at least you'll be eating the food of kings soon, Shiko."

She frowns at him. "I'm not doing this so I can stave off the hunger in my belly."

He ruffles her hair. "I know. You're doing this for us. Still, don't skin him in the first month. He's got a nice enough brother. A pity he's the one that you're marrying though."

She thinks back to what she knows of Madara-sama, and of Izuna-san. Perhaps Izuna-san is the _nicer_ man, but she has a feeling that Madara-sama is perfectly capable of being nice, just not as he is at the moment. "Don't be mean, Korui-nii." She frowns up at him. "He's not Senju Tobirama, that's really all that matters." She leans on the window sill. "But yes, I don't understand, they both know that we're not really this wealthy, and it's all just a front."

"Shiko?" Korui-nii sets a hand on her shoulder. "Do you mind? Everything you have to leave behind, I mean." He adds as soon as she turns to him.

"Truthfully?" She asks him, and he nods. "Yes, but there aren't that many other options unless we want to go back to our pillaging ways." To again become pillagers of the coastline would be to go back to war.

Chichi had marched to war in his youth. He told them bedtime stories about war that curdled their blood. Told them of cutting down children, because they too were soldiers, told them the stories of how he'd had to live with the deaths and the blood on his hands.

Perhaps that is why he'd thrown such a lavish wedding for Neesan's Senju mainlander husband. Peace is a dream that Hashirama carries with burning devotion, and Chichi saw it.

Chichi lives closer to war than the rest of them do, except perhaps Niisama who fights his own wars on the wing, and wore armor that he'd take off when he came home.

"Mmm." Korui-nii sighs. "That's true enough, Shiko. Though I wish we didn't have to sacrifice you to do it."

"I'm not some sort of offering to the kami." She tells him, tartly perhaps because she knows that is exactly what she is. "I'll be fine wherever I go."

He laughs then, and slings an arm around her shoulders. "I'm worried about the other people, not you." He's lying, but it makes him feel better, so she does not call his bluff.

"Of course, of course. They better watch out. I'm lying in wait." She teases him, poking the ink smudge on his cheek. "And the first thing I'm attacking is this black stain on your soul."

He draws back with mock horror. "I've been bitten by the Viper." He says, and mimes falling over and convulsing on the ground with his ink-stained hands. "Help! Help!"

She bursts into mock tears and this draws out the Terrible Twins, and Aruta-nii and Ashiro-nii burst from the doorway and pounce on his prone form.

"Who's messing with our Shiko?" Ashiro-nii growls.

"Who's making our Shiko cry?" Aruta-nii jabs an elbow into Korui-nii's stomach, and she leaves the three of them behind to tussle on the floor.

They all three of them are frustrated. It helps to relieve the frustration when they can.

* * *

She plays with the children, takes them cliff diving and offers up her favorite whalebone hairpins as a prize. She wants to leave behind something of hers that isn't-an empty space. Their happy chatter fills her, and fills her, and fills her, and she reminds herself that she is making the right decision.

Sometimes it takes reminding.

And they all know that her whalebone hairpins are carved with tiny images. They'd been the envy of every little girl on the island when Masato-nii had finished making them. Only a master of artistic seals could make such detailed patterns on such a small space.

And Masato-nii is very good, but he doesn't take commission.

In the end, they go to Haruhi-chan, who takes them with trembling hands and wobbling lips.

She throws her arms around Kanae's waist and sobs. "Kanae-hime's leaving."

Kanae pats her back, and suddenly, all the girls are mobbing her, sniffling. "Kanae-hime's leaving to go to the mainland."

She looks at them, and notes that to them, being ages seven to thirteen, the mainland might as well be the moon, and just as alien. "I'm going with a nice man." This is a platitude. Despite all his potential for kindness, she doesn't doubt that Uchiha Madara-sama is not a _nice_ man. That is, he doesn't spend much of his energy on being nice, and he's most certainly killed people that don't deserve to be dead.

Still, she can hardly tell the girls that.

Sayako-chan pulls back. "He's a nice man?"

And they sit there, all eight of them or so, in a circle around her asking questions. "What does he like?" "Does he think you're pretty?" "Of course he thinks that Kanae-hime's pretty, don't be silly Chiru-chan." "Does he like eel soup or turtle soup better?" "Does he eat sweets?" "Does he like sweets?" "Is his brother really blind?" "Has he told you that he loves you?" "I bet he's said so. There's no one in the world that doesn't love Kanae-hime."

She really doesn't know the answers to these questions, except the negative ones. Those ones she knows very well. "Oh we don't know each other as well as Neesan and Hashirama-san did, but I'm sure he's very nice. He thought the red teardrop pearl I found him really pretty." But she can lie with the best of them when she wants to.

There is a collective gasp at this, and the excited chattering continues.

For the most part, she only has to nod and smile, and seem excited.

But they are no longer sad about her leaving, though she does hope that Madara-sama's heavy air of disapproval continues, otherwise he'd have every child on the Island clinging to his legs for no reason whatsoever beyond what these little girls thought of him.

"He looks really tired." Chiru-chan says at last, after they have finished discussing if Madara-sama would like shells or pearls braided into his hair. "Kanae-hime, when you are married, you should make sure that he gets more sleep."

He does look like the walking dead at times. She tugs one maroon braid. "Of course, I will."

"Yay!" They drag her off towards the square, cheering, to join the festive atmosphere and play games before they are sent to bed before the dancing starts that night.

It takes an hour, maybe two, but she begs her leave so that she can dress properly for the dancing. They let her go with big eyes and hushed whispers.

* * *

It is Haha who helps her dress that night, when it ought to have been Neesan, but Neesan is in Konoha, so it is Haha who ties her obi, and twists her hair into a heavy crown of braids.

"You'll look beautiful tonight." Haha tells her, hands on her shoulders.

"Never as beautiful as Neesan." She looks at herself in the mirror, and sees that her skin is too pale, that her jaw is too sharp, and that she looks like she has spent a winter eating a little less every day.

"Oh nonsense." Haha pats her cheek, and smiles, though it doesn't touch her eyes. Haha had screamed at Chichi in private, behind closed doors after Chichi had announced his decision. She and Chichi's falling out had been tremendous. She'd accused Chichi of selling his children, especially his daughters, and he might as well be called a beggar king. Chichi's response had been to tell Haha that unless she wanted to be a starving queen, she would leave her daughter's sacrifices well alone. "You are every inch as beautiful as your sister." The house still shook with their fury with each other.

Then Haha and Chichi are not really very close in the grand scheme of things, and every time Niisama came home it became worse. Haha had not taken well to losing her childhood fiance's heart to a youkai woman who only appeared once in a collection of years or so.

At least Haha doesn't take her anger out on Niisama. She's perfectly motherly to Niisama, and they are good enough friends when she ignores how much he looks like Lady Biwa, which is the entire time that he is home.

Niisama had told her once that he finds it strange that he has two mothers, that her mother acted more motherly than his own. She'd been young then, seven or so years old, and hadn't understood. Lady Biwa had last visited when she was too young to remember. As far as she was concerned, Haha was his haha just as much as she was hers. She'd told him so, and he had laughed, clawed hands dark in the noon sun.

"Thank you, Haha." Kanae considers that she and Madara-sama might treat each other the same way that Haha and Chichi treat each other, like chilly friends or acquaintances that live in the same house instead of how lovers might.

She considers that he might father children outside of his marriage and that she would mother them or not as the situation calls for.

She decides that in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter very much. Her expectations of him are different than what Haha had of Chichi, so she wouldn't end up as bitter.

"Now, dazzle every young man who lays eyes on you."

She laughs happily at this. "You'll dazzle them more, if you ever stepped down to dance."

Haha shakes her head, pearls clacking together. "No, Kanae-chan. I don't dance anymore. It is for the young at heart."

And too late, Kanae remembers that Haha only dances when Chichi is her partner, and Chichi only offers to dance when Lady Biwa comes back to the Island, and only then because he cannot dance with a visitor more than he dances with his wife.

But Haha is really beautiful when she's dancing.

And she and Chichi are not really unhappy.

* * *

She dances that night, with every person who offers to dance with her. Habiki-san is absent. Gone to someplace, she doesn't know where.

 _Perhaps he is still sulking on the bottom of the sea in his palace._

 _Perhaps he will sulk until I leave._

 _And then he will find someone else. I'm sure of it._

Perhaps she only thinks this because it's a comforting thought to think. She doesn't want to think that she's breaking hearts with her decision.

Maybe that's why she throws herself into the steps with a wild abandon that she reserves only for her happiest days, and nearly consumes Jiko-kun while doing it. She's sorry that it happens.

He has less youkai blood than she and her siblings, only a sixteenth or so when they all have at least an eighth if not a little more. It is quite unfair to ask him to keep up with her glamour when she's channeling an ocean of feeling.

It's the last night she'll dance on this coast as a princess, as the beloved daughter of a beloved king. She knows it in her bones. She doubts that Madara-sama planned for a wedding on the shores of Uzu, like Hashirama did. She also doubts that Chichi really has the resources to do it again.

She kisses Jiko-kun on the cheek airily, and laughs like waves to cover her apology. "It was fun, Jiko-kun." He blushes, and she curses how badly she's consumed him tonight.

It is why she so often dances with Habiki-san. He's never so-so _gone_ afterward, but that is because he is a youkai king who has been alive for centuries, and seen many slightly more than an eighth youkai human girls come and go.

She makes her way to the dias, a small smile on her lips."Chichi, Haha." She bows once to both her parents, and then turns to the men sitting with them. "And a good evening to you, Madara-sama, Izuna-san."

He looks fatigued, as though he's just been rescued from a wreck at sea. The bags under his eyes are heavy, and even the rolling thunder in his voice is quiet when he responds. "Yes." He says, and she thinks that he sounds so weary, so _sick. What are you sick of, Madara-sama? What makes you so tired?_

"Niisan thinks the music is wonderful." Izuna-san says, clearly attempting to cover for how awfully not yes Madara-sama is.

Kanae covers her mouth with a wide sleeve, and giggles, because it is better than asking Madara-sama about his fatigue for right now. Knowing what little she did know of him, it would probably offend him. "I'm sure, Izuna-san." She dances forward a few more steps, and takes Izuna-san by the hand. "Won't you come down to dance as well?"

Madara-sama is too tired to dance, but Izuna-san isn't, and it's not fair to ask him to sit around when he could enjoy himself. She'd seen his feet tapping in time to the music earlier, had seen the slight amount of longing he'd exuded.

He deserves to dance.

"No, Kanae-san." Izuna responds, and he sounds so regretful that she makes up her mind, right then and there, that whatever he wants to do that conventionally can't be done by blind young men, she'd find a way to help him do, once they arrive in Konoha. She'd take him to do everything that there is to do, and he'd stop sounding like he regrets being alive at the moment. "I would not be a good dance partner. You should offer to dance with Niisan instead."

Perhaps he doesn't know how tired Madara-sama looks. She doesn't know how long he's been blind for. Perhaps it's been his whole life.

She smiles, even though he can't see it. Maybe he can feel it, if she smiles hard enough. "Izuna-san, dance is for the heart, and you'll have fun." She pulls him up, and down onto the floor. "Come on. No one will think that you don't dance beautifully."

He seems to take her decisions in stride. Perhaps he's used to being led. Madara-sama did seem to be very careful of his brother's surroundings.

"Tell me honestly, Kanae-san." Izuna says, as he steps about swaying in time with the music. He cannot see her actions, and thus, is completely not caught by her steps. She corrects him carefully so that he does not go careening into the next line of dancers. "Why did you ask me to dance and not Niisan?" He moves carefully, but still very sure footed. He knows how to dance then.

Everyone about them takes note, and makes sure to be careful not to hurt him.

"Madara-sama looked tired." She says, lightly, because if he doesn't know how tired his brother looks, perhaps it's not best to tell him here, out on the dance floor. "Besides, he didn't look like he cared for dancing while you seemed to want to step off of the dias and out here with us."

Izuna-san seems to consider it. "You should have asked him. He will be unhappy."

She nods, and then realize that he can't register such things. "Yes, of course. I'll talk to him." She makes a slight gesture towards one of her friends.

Chihaya-chan moves over to take her place in the line. "Uchiha Izuna-san?" She asks. "I'm Okui Chihaya."

He bows in her direction. "It's good to meet you."

She's leaving him in safe hands then. Chihaya-chan is one of the best harpooners in the Terrible Twins' crew. He'll be safe.

With that in mind, she goes to find Madara-sama.

* * *

He's sitting on the rocks where they'd been that afternoon, staring at the waves, which she hasn't expected, but really should have. _He doesn't know where anything is. Where else could I expect him to go?_

"Madara-sama?" She asks as she draws closer. "Have I offended you?" Izuna-san had said that he would be unhappy, and he certainly does look unhappy, but she's not sure if it's because he hates parties or if it's because he thinks that she's slighted him by not asking him to dance.

"No." He certainly sounds offended.

She sits down on the rocks beside him, and tries to read his features through the moonlight. His hair is very dark and his face is cast in shadow. "It's all you've said to me tonight," She says, voice soft. He looks as though something hurts him. She doesn't want to make him more upset than he already is. "Yes and no." She turns to look at him, full in the face. "Both were lies."

He closes his eyes, but says nothing.

"Madara-sama? Do you ever think you'll tell me the truth?" It is probably not smart to ask him this, since he'd been so offended earlier, but he laughs.

"The truth helps no one." He sounds more bitter than seawater. _There's too much salt._ She thinks, almost hysterically, and then tries not to laugh because _it's not like he's a soup I'm tasting._

She takes both of his hands. They are very cold. _He hasn't packed warm enough clothes. He's frozen through._ "It would help me." It worries her, how cold he is.

He opens his eyes, and looks at her with an emotion that she cannot read. "The truth?" He asks.

She nods. "The truth."

"I do not want you." He says. "And expect I never will." That is really what she expected, but something about it is sad nonetheless. _Do you want or like anyone besides your brother, Madara-sama? You've spoken of no one else despite how much you are trying to talk to me._

For a moment, she wonders what sort of world he comes from, that it has made him this way, what sort of curse he's been inflicted with, and if she could ever make him less tired.

She doesn't think is physical sleep that he needs now.

She smiles. "It wasn't so hard to say, was it?"

"I've learned." He pauses, as if there's something inside him unclogging. "That this generally makes others like me less." _Do you have a history of people disliking you, when you tell them that you find them hopelessly bland?_

"Did you want me to like you?" She asks, and leans back to watch the sea, her head against his knee, her hand in his. "Or did you just not want me to hate you?"

"Hn."

Kanae finds another conversational topic. "It is a beautiful place." She gestures over the water.

"Beautiful and bleak." He says this without a hint of irony.

She turns to him, blinking. _I can't expect him to love the Island as I do._ "Perhaps it is." She sighs, resting her head on a hand. "Too bleak perhaps." If it were less so, she wouldn't be sitting here talking to him. She'd be still, years from now, a beloved princess, the younger daughter of a beloved king.

"Yet you love it." It is the way he says love, love like the idea is something he cares for, that prompts her to say the next words.

"My blood is water." She replies at last. "And I am thunder in the sea." He'd told her something about himself, even if it is not purposeful. She offers him the same

They sit, a long silence stretching out between them.

"Mito-neesan tells me that you cannot hear the waves in Konoha." She says, because she has only just realized, that if there are no oceans in the Land of Fire, then she would no longer hear the waves at night.

"She would be right." _Really Madara-sama. Your truth is almost jarring now._

They sit in silence until sunrise.

* * *

 **A.N.** And here, we learn more about Kanae's family, because Madara wouldn't have told us about them, and only Kanae can.

Thank you so much to Wyteeth (I just like that they are such different people even though they share some similarities. And yeah, Madara is depressive.), Miss Nanami-chan (I just feel like they come from such different circumstances that they would see the world in fundamentally different ways. Madara has spent a lot of time knowing that life is short, and probably not worth it, so hope doesn't come easily to him. Kanae...lives in Uzu which is practically immortality to him, but perfectly normal to her.), and fernandfeather for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	4. Journey's End

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"Who were you

Before they broke your heart?"

-Unknown

* * *

She watches the sunrise, and thinks about the man beside her. _He is tired, but he does not sleep._ "Madara-sama, you may wish to rest." She offers him a hand that he does not take.

"I will." He's still staring out at the waves.

She stands there, for a moment, and thinks that perhaps he needs the calm of the sounds. The gulls are awake now, and calling over the air. It is peaceful here, perhaps in ways that he has not known before. Knowing the mainland, perhaps he does not have quiet moments. "Yes." She agrees and leaves him to it.

She climbs over the rocks, and heads back down to check on Izuna-san.

Chihaya-chan is still in the square.

"Chihaya-chan?" She's really left her guest with her friend for far too long. It isn't fair. She'd have to make it up to her when the guests leave. "Did Izuna-san get back to the house alright?" And then she realizes that she will no longer be here when the guests leave, because she'd be leaving with them, and there's such a terrible emptiness in her chest that she is struck dumb.

 _Such is the fate I am handed. Such is the fate I offered to take up. Chin up, Uzumaki Kanae, you will be a princess no matter where you go._

Chihaya cracks her neck, and sighs. "The Terrible Princes took him back, Kanae-hime."

And oh dear, that doesn't sound like the happiest of things. "I hope they didn't damage him." She murmurs. The Terrible Twins really are very terrible at the best of times.

Chihaya giggles. "He's a guest, of course they wouldn't damage him."

"Kanae-hime!" It's Hojo-kun, Hojo-kun who has always tried to impress Chihaya-chan. At the best of times, this reads as posturing. At the worst of time, it speaks of overweening self indulgence. But he's not focusing on Chihaya-chan this time. "I just saw Tanaka-san drag your future husband off towards his house!"

And suddenly she's very concerned about that too.

She'd left Madara-sama perfectly serene on a beach. Tanaka-san's words come back to her. _Knowing that he's a fire breathing mainlander, he probably won't ever realize what he's marrying._

And Tanaka-san is one of the few people on the Island old enough to harbor a grudge against the Uchiha visitors.

The blood drains from her face. _What's he going to do with Madara-sama?_ She doesn't doubt that Madara-sama is strong, but he hardly knows her Shishou half as well as she does. Despite his great age, he still moved like a man much younger.

They say that Tanaka-san is more youkai than human, though Tanaka-san himself never admits to that. He is as Uzumaki as they come. Or so he says.

"Thank you, Hojo-kun," She has no time to check back on Izuna-san. The Terrible Twins are terrible, but they will hardly feed someone poison and hope that they die.

She races off for the edge of the Island.

"Tanaka-san!" She crashes over the old man's doorway, and prays that she isn't too late, that there's no bloodshed... "Hojo-kun told me that he'd seen you dragging Ma...dara-sama." But then she actually _sees_ Madara-sama, sees his pale face, his shaking hands, and Tanaka-san's turtle soup on the table. "What happened?" Clearly her Shishou will not poison her future husband then, if he's offered him food and drink all at once.

Guest right is the most important right on the Island.

"That's what I wanted to ask you, girl." Tanaka-san slaps a hand on the table. "Why did you leave a mainlander by the sea to get wave-dazed?"

She blinks. "Oh." And then her legs give out. It wasn't Tanaka-san she had to be careful of. It was Habiki-san. Mild-mannered, _normal_ Habiki-san who had promised her just two days ago that he'd be eating no one. "Oh, Kami, I'm sorry." _I thought I explained things to him properly. I thought I told him that he couldn't-Kami. He promised me he wouldn't eat anyone. But he didn't promise me that he wouldn't drown them._

And she's forgotten that youkai promise things, but they also searched for loopholes when they didn't like to be rude. That promises are about as useful as rice paper dams against the flood.

Anyone without much youkai blood would be caught by the glamor. Habiki-san doesn't even normally bother with the glamor, there's no one on Uzu who'd fall for walking into the water.

But then, even if Madara-sama is related to any sort of youkai, for certainly they must exist even on the Mainland, he doesn't know the cautions.

"Maybe he'd tell you what he saw, but he would have walked right into the sea, and you'll be down one husband, girl." Tanaka-san climbs to his feet, and sighs. "They'll be beaching the whale at noon. I'm going down to the bay." The year's first whale will be beached, and then the Terrible Twins will gather the crew in the next month, and then they will be off to the high seas, off for adventure that they may not return from.

And Tanaka-san vanishes out the door.

Kanae feels very small. Small and scared and tired.

"Madara-sama." She asks, in a small voice when they are well and truly alone. "Will you ever forgive me?" Her head bows forward, and her hair comes to hide her face, which is for the best really, she's not sure that she can meet his eyes at the moment. _I nearly got you killed. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry._

He's in his rights to void the contract. To leave without her, and while that would bring her relief, it would be truly terrible for the rest of them.

"What is there to forgive?" He asks her, as if he really doesn't understand. There's a shake in his voice, and he sounds more fatigued than ever.

It is horrible.

He doesn't know how close to death he'd come.

She'd have to explain to him. She has to, because honesty is important, and she's promised him the truth.

Her shoulders are shaking as she pokes his leg, and then carefully takes one of his hands. She squeezes it to check that it is solid, and she sobs in relief when it is. Normally those who are touched even a little bit are not always the same. "Y-your life. I didn't tell you that on occasion the youkai come too close, and that a mainlander-"

His eyes narrow. "Mainlander?" He sounds more offended by that term than anything else she's said.

"You don't live here, you know." She pulls herself together, piece by piece, and wipes her her hair away from her face. "You're a mainlander. They drown quite often without attention. I just didn't, I didn't think that you would be wave-dazed. You seemed-" _Too strong for that despite your fatigue. I forgot that you have the same education as every man from the mainland. How could I have forgotten?_

"What." He doesn't sound amused. But it's still a question, and she is still bound to answer him.

"The youkai," she says at last. "Hold court off the shores of Uzu. And they often lure people away if they can get away with it." She frowns. "But Habiki-san promised me that he wouldn't do anything. He knows you're supposed to be here. What did you see that made you step into the waves?" She doesn't know why Habiki-san would bother. Is it to keep her on the Island? He has to know that she'd hate him for the rest of her life if he did something like this. Is it because of something else? She doesn't know.

She doesn't know even if it's specifically Habiki-san. It could be someone else, playing a practical joke with the visitors.

"Hills." He tells her.

There are several members of Habiki-san's court that can be described as hills. But if it is Habiki-san, they'd be red and blue hills. Red for a death, blue for a sorrow.

"Blue hills?" She grabs his elbows, and scans his face. "Where they blue or red hills?"

"Blue." He looks mildly ill. _So it was Habiki-san then. It was Habiki-san, but he wasn't looking to kill, only to scare._ She breathes a mental sigh of relief until his next sentence appears. "The youkai aren't real." He sounds like he's trying to convince her.

She snorts at this, a hysterical laugh bubbling up. "Please don't say that, Madara-sama. Not here." She pulls him to his feet, and they exit the house together.

* * *

"Izuna-san is safe." She says quietly, sitting on the hardwood floor. "Or safer, because you can't see anything you know. Just don't follow any strange voices, and you'll be fine." Her hands twist together in her lap. _Kami. I thought they'd be safe._ A small wave of anger threatens to overcome her heart. "I should have told you earlier, I should have-"

"Kanae-san? What is going on?" Izuna-san adjusts the band over his eyes with a hand. He sounds as though he's been up all night.

If the Terrible Twins had had charge of him, he might have spent the entire night playing games with them, despite his lack of vision. He might also have lost whatever valuable items he brought with him if they decided to break out the dice and cards.

The Terrible Twins are notoriously good cheaters at dice and cards even when their opponent isn't blind.

She thinks about this, because it is infinitely better than considering the alternatives.

She sighs, and runs a hand through her hair. "Our island shares a delicate balance with the Habiki-san's court, the one under the sea." She rubs the hand down her face, and considers how to explain this to the two mainlanders who hadn't an ounce of sea sense because they needed none in their forests of leafy trees. _Don't they have youkai there? Ones that lure them into marshes, ones that drown them in lakes and rivers? Or are the youkai so gone now that it is just Habiki-san's court now?_ It can't be. Lady Biwa's wing city still exists somewhere up in the mountains of Water Country. Niisama lived there for much of the year. "We have a peace accord with them, so they won't take us, but visitors aren't always so respected."

"But youkai aren't real." Izuna-san protests, and he's so ignorant, so ignorant. His brother had nearly been drowned, but he won't believe it until he sees it, which is, for him never.

Kanae laughs. "Mainlanders." She gestures to the scroll hanging on the wall behind them. "That is a portrait of a youkai. Her name is Iruya-atawa no Kanae." And remembering the first Kanae-hime reminds her of how eerily similar they are, from their hair to their eyes to their faces to their fates. Chichi had thought to pay tribute to their ancestor with her name, but written in different Kanji to avoid the fate of the first Kanae. It doesn't seem to have worked very well. "She married Uzumaki Ishiro five hundred years ago to keep the peace. From her, we get our red hair." _She married a man that she did not know, and did not love. She lived in a kingdom that was not her own, and gave up the one that she loved. Once she left the sea, she never stepped foot back in it._ "But if you don't believe me, that's alright."

Izuna wraps the blanket more firmly around his shoulders. He's cold, she realizes. She tries to test the air with her hands.

She doesn't think that it is cold, but it's not about what she thinks.

"That explains nothing." Madara-sama does not seem to believe her impromptu history lesson. If he'd been one of her brothers, she'd grab him by the ears and scream at him until he listened. Alas, he is not one of her brothers, and she has not enough control over his life at the moment to grab his ears and scream in his face.

"If you truly don't believe me that the youkai exist, then why did you step out into the water?" She taps the sealing array on the floor to heat up the room. Izuna-san doesn't need to be cold during this discussion.

"What did you just do?" He sounds curious, like a cat might be, by a shiny new toy.

She blinks at him. _You ask the strangest and least useful questions, Madara-sama._ "I turned on the heating seal, Madara-sama."

"Thank you, Kanae-san." Izuna-san leans forward. "But I still don't believe you." _It isn't a matter of if you believe me. It's a matter of life and death._

She throws up her hands. "Well, then you can just wait around to see Niisama then." She stalks across the room, and then turns to look back at the two of them. The two idiots the both of them. Her mind decides for her. Why else would they be so foolish? "Anharaya-atawa no Kyoya is half albatross. But of course, that will have to wait for the turn of the wind, in six month's time."

"What?" Madara-sama asks. He looks so shocked.

He looks so shocked that she has to laugh. Surely he's heard of her Niisama, the strongest warrior that Uzu has ever produced. "It's the worst kept secret on the Island: Chichi's first love was Anharaya-atawa no Biwa, the Lady of the Iron Claw." It seems to shock the two of them into silence, so perhaps they don't know.

That's alright. They'll learn by demonstration.

She guides Izuna-san to his feet, and out the sliding door. "Come, I need to yell at Habiki-san, and it is better if I can point and gesture at the guests that he is not supposed to touch." _Yes._ Answers an angry little voice in her head. _He needs to answer for his actions, for I do not like them._

She ignores the thought that she is potentially courting his disapproval for forever and ever over two mainlander men who aren't even her friends.

Habiki-san is one of her oldest friends. She'll do it anyway. They don't deserve to get eaten.

* * *

She strides out onto the waves a single purpose on her mind. "Ichiro-usahaya no Habiki-san!" She yells, above the crash of the waves, hands on her hips. There's enough chakra laced in her voice that it carries, booming into the deeps below.

And then the water moves and parts, blue hills rising and slipping back down into the depths, and then red coils, and then finally, a head. _So it is a dramatic day then._

She wonders what she has done to ever deserve this.

His head pauses before her. "You called, Lovely Girl?"

"You promised you wouldn't harm our guests." It is not exactly as he said it. He promised not to eat them, which is not the same as not harming them, but she isn't in the mood to debate semantics with him at the moment.

He shifts into his human form, so that he can stand on the water at her level. "Oh, I wouldn't have, Lovely Girl." There's such _sorrow_ in his voice, such _regret,_ that she almost forgives him, right then and there. _I have hurt him deeply._ She realises with a pang of guilt.

 _I have not promised him anything._ She reminds herself a moment later. _And he has made me a promise._

Habiki-san turns away from her, towards the two Uchiha men on the shore. Something roars in her ears, and it isn't the waves.

If he sets a hand on them, she'd do her best to rip it off though she'd likely die in the process. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. But I think I know who you are." He steps out of the water, and onto the rocks, but he doesn't touch them. "You are the ones who have arrived to take my lovely girl away from the Island." There is an edge of displeasure in his tone, but his hand twitches behind his back, and she knows he feels her rage.

Madara-sama takes a step, and places himself firmly before Izuna. It cements the idea that he truly cares, truly loves his brother, deeply.

More deeply than he ever lets on. In the face of an impossible enemy, he chooses to sacrifice himself first.

She understands the action. She'd do the same for Neesan.

"Habiki-san!" Kanae sets a hand on her eldest friend's elbow and pulls him back before he does something untoward. "Why can't you be polite to them?" _I'll forgive you if you promise not to hurt them._

"Oh, Lovely Girl." Habiki-san murmurs, and he sounds like he is very much a fool for love, standing here, acting angry with two men who aren't even his rivals, over a seventeen year old island girl. "Women like you drown oceans." He turns to her. "But what will you be without oceans left to drown?"

 _He is worried for me._ She raises her chin and straightens her shoulders. "Nothing gold can stay." _I am sorry Habiki-san. The next life perhaps, I'll be yours._

He runs a hand through her red hair, nostalgia and melancholy in his eyes. _You will not. Our fate is not to meet the way I wish._ "The sea will miss you, as the earth misses his sunrise." He steps past her, back into the ocean. "Fear not, Little Storm, I will not trouble your human suitor any longer." And then in an instant, he is far out into the ocean.

The last they see of him is the flap of a red tail, which knocks a wave back to land so large that it drenches her completely.

She splutters, and shakes herself off angrily. "I hate you, Habiki-san." But he's done enough to hide her tears. She has no more to shed for Ichiro-usahaya no Habiki-san, king of his sea. She turns back to Madara-sama and Izuna-san. "Do you believe me now?" _Will you not wander off into the ocean if you see random hills now?_

"Hn." Madara-sama sounds perturbed. She isn't sure she blames him.

* * *

Her entire family, except for Niisama sits down to lunch, and eats with the guests. It is important to eat together; it is important to dine with visitors.

Guest right is older than the sands, and just as commonly offered, but more than that, it is sacred. Those who eat together, do not slaughter or shame each other.

"When are you leaving?" Haha asks, with her gentle voice, but her eyes are dark and sad.

"I'm not sure." Izuna-san replies, and takes a sip of his soup through the spoon, and then misses the bowl as he tries to dip the spoon back into the bowl. The porcelain clinks loudly against the stone table. Kanae wishes she could help him, but so does everyone around the table.

But it would be rude, and imply that he cannot do it himself. No one moves.

Izuna-san winces and turns to his brother. "Niisan?"

"Tomorrow." Madara rumbles, and something about his voice sounds like a death knell anyway.

She is undone for a moment. _Tomorrow._ She thinks blankly. _I have to say all of my goodbyes today._

"Tomorrow?" Korui-nii almost shouts, as he leaps to his feet."How could you take Shiko-chan from us by dawn tomorrow?"

Chichi glances sharply at him. "Korui." Chichi is far less lenient with his sons than with his daughters, but this isn't him at his most disapproving. It has shocked him as well then, this decision that has been made.

"No." Ashiro-nii sets his bowl onto the table. "Chichi-ue you have to tell him that he can't do that. Shiko still has to-"

"Ashiro-nii." She cuts in before one half of the Terrible Twins can work themselves into a tizzy and cause an all out brawl at the table. "Madara-sama has said that he is going tomorrow. So I will go tomorrow, and that is all." She stands, gathers up the empty bowls, and starts her retreat. "Excuse me. I must visit everything once this afternoon, and then finish packing. Please enjoy the meal, Madara-sama, Izuna-san, Haha, Chichi, Obaasan." She cannot keep the sorrow from her voice, as she leaves. _Just a day to say goodbye._

 _How can I say goodbye?_

* * *

The next morning, Madara-sama and Izuna-san wait for her, as she hugs everyone once, tightly, and then turns to the horizon hoping against hope that there is a black winged shape there. That Niisama is coming home for her, and fixing all of her problems. But it would be cruel of her to expect it. She shakes herself once, and straightens her shoulders as she steps onto the water. "I suppose he won't be coming." She says it to comfort herself, but Izuna-san has sharp ears.

"Who?" He asks.

"Kyoya-niisama. He won't be here until the turn of the wind, and that is not today." Niisama has a schedule that he does not break from. It would be odd of him to come back just for her.

The heavens will bend before Niisama does.

"Oh." Izuna-san sighs. "It's irresponsible of him to not come and see you off."

Kanae guides him away from a whirlpool and laughs brightly. _Oh, Izuna-san, that is a a silly thought._ "Izuna-san, you can't judge him the way you judge men. He isn't a man, you know." Niisama can do a good impression of being a man having learned from his brothers, but he really isn't one.

It would be unfair to expect him to keep time like a man.

"Why not?" Madara-sama cuts in, and strangely, he sounds quite cross.

Perhaps he is tired. Perhaps the thought that Niisama isn't a man is personally offensive to him. She isn't entirely aware.

"He doesn't think of time the same way." She shrugs. "It might as well be a few hours to him for all that years pass for us." Niisama will still be alive long after her bones are dust, and given enough care, he'd still look as young and beautiful as he does now. "Violence takes on a different hue for him too." She guides Izuna-san around another whirlpool, and makes sure that Madara-sama watches his step. "He's fond of catching intruders and cutting them apart for shark bait."

This is one of Niisama's favorite hobbies when he is home, but perhaps it's one that outsiders wouldn't understand.

Neither Madara-sama nor Izuna-san respond to this statement.

* * *

"And what is that type of tree over there, Madara-sama?" She asks, because even if it isn't the first time she's been in the Land of Fire it's still the first time that she's had a native guide.

"That is not a tree." He's being surprisingly patient with her, but still, she thought it was a tree.

She blinks at him. "It isn't?"

"It's a bush." And yes, this is strangely patient of him. She likes it. She decides that even if he is frustrating later on, it really wouldn't do to accidentally kill him.

For one, Izuna-san is very nice, and for another, Uchiha Madara has a heart that isn't buried very deep at all. She can live with him.

She thinks that she'll be happy.

She huffs, because really, there aren't any differences between trees and bushes. It's just words anyway."What's the difference?"

He seems to consider it. "A bush is shorter than a tree." That isn't really a good reason.

"And it doesn't have a trunk." Izuna-san adds. He sounds amused. She doesn't know why, except, perhaps that he finds her ignorance funny. "Most trees have trunks."

She throws up her hands. "I don't understand any of it." _And none of you would know the differences between types of turtle anyway. And their differences are quite vast unlike the differences between trees and bushes._

* * *

Madara-sama's mood gets gradually darker the closer they get to Konoha. She's starting to believe that his fatigue has something to do with Konoha. Has something to do with how this place seems to weigh on him, like a boulder or an unclean stain.

"Madara-sama?" She slides her hand away from the crook of his elbow, because maybe it's just that he doesn't like to be touched in public. "Where are we going?" She smiles for him, because he needs the smile.

"The Uchiha District." He seems surprised, but his mood has lightened. She'll take it.

"Is everything made of wood there too?" She bounces forward on her toes. Across the way, a young man pauses, and stares at her, with something like lust in his white eyes.

Immediately, the mood becomes intolerably dark. Madara-sama stiffens, and his scowl darkens. _He is concerned for me?_ That is awkwardly sweet of him. She thinks she likes that too.

"Yes." He corrals down the street, and away from the man. That he didn't start a fight in the street is a good sign as well.

She'd bet that any of her brothers would have started a brawl over an insignificant glance. If it offended her, she'd like to take care of the perpetrators herself in such a way that they'd never do it again, not just be afraid of her brothers.

"Good evening, Jiisan!" She calls out to a passing older man, and he blinks and looks twice.

His gaze also falls towards her legs, but there's no lust to it, just surprise. He does not respond.

She frowns slightly. "So unfriendly." _No wonder Madara-sama doesn't like it much here. The people don't act like they live in a city at all._ She tucks her hand back in the crook of his elbow. She knew everyone at home, in Uzu, and they all knew and loved her. She would make it the same here, given time. There has never been a heart that she could not win, given time. "I was only being polite."

"They were distracted." Madara-sama says, a dark growl in his voice. He doesn't say why, which is also sweet of him, but she's already noticed. Her clothing is hardly normal here, from what she's seen, though she'd not change it for other people.

If he asks her, perhaps she might consider it.

"Wow." They pause, in front of what must be his front gate, and she runs a hand over the varnished dark wood. "You must be rich, Madara-sama." She laughs, and his darkness lightens. She promises him in her heart that she will laugh often, and perhaps he'd be happy. "This is such a fun and beautiful place."

And for the first time, she sees him smile. It is small, and tugs at the corners of his lips, but it is a smile. She tucks the mental image away. _He is beautiful when he smiles._ "I am rich?" He pushes open the door, and leads her into the courtyard.

"You have so much wood." There is so much wood here, and it's so strange that they'd choose something like wood to build houses of, but here the trees are many. Here there are forests and other such things, and she can almost forget the disconcerting silence.

There are no waves.

"And only rich people can afford to build their entire house out of wood, and it's everywhere in Konoha." When she turns to look at him, his expression is so befuddled that she has to laugh. "Didn't you know that?"

"Hn." He steps forward. "I will show you the house."

There's a hint of pride in his voice. It is quite enough.

* * *

 **A. N.** Arriving in Konoha, Kanae-style.

Thanks so much to wyteeth, fernandfeather, Miss Nanami-chan, and LittleMissSugarLess for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	5. Finding Peace

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"That's what happens isn't it,

When you're responsible for lives other than your own.

You do what you have to do."

-Unknown

* * *

She sits in his room on the floor, looking about. It's a bare room, much like a bachelor's would be, she supposes. There aren't any decorations. _I suppose it might just be that he doesn't care for decoration._

"Are you convinced that I am not rich now?" He asks her.

It seems that he really doesn't find much positivity in any situation whatsoever. She'd remarked on his wealth as an offhand comment, and now it seems to be crushing him. _I will have to be careful then. Underconfidence under all that bravado. Who would have thought?_

"Madara-sama..." She runs a hand over his war fan, and then the short sword underneath it. The sickle-like weapon next to them is something that she hasn't seen before, and she takes a moment to rearrange the chain. It looks beautiful though. "Are you always so negative?" For a moment, she doesn't realize what she's said. _Oh. No. He will not take well to that._ She asks another question instead. "How does one use a war fan?" _There are no protection seals on this._

 _Whyever not? He clearly loves his weapons, for them to be so well cared for despite everything else in this room._

"Those are two very different questions." He doesn't sound upset, which is good, just confused.

"I figured you wouldn't want to answer the first one." She picks up the war fan by its handle, hefting the weight in her hands. It would not be impossible for her to wield this weapon, should she have to, but at the same time, it is much heavier than what she expects. _I prefer my knives._ She's proud of her knives, shaped like crescents, fitted for her hands, designed for close quarter combat, easily concealed. "But I'm sure that the answer to the second is more interesting." There is no one on the Island who uses the gunbai, and she has never seen it used, since it is a weapon. _Would you wack people with it? How does it kill?_ But then she notices the chipped cracks on the side. "It is unsealed."

"Hm?" It sounds like he's asking a question, as he comes to stand right behind her, so close that her shoulder would brush his breastplate if she's not careful.

"Would you mind if I did? It would help with the nicks. It would be better if it were forged in, but I'm no good with a hammer and anvil, but I could repaint it for you before every battle you have to face." And it is only now that she envies Neesan, who knows her way around a forge, would be able to easily make such things permanent in the space of an afternoon. Still, Kanae likes to think that she has useful talents, ones that make her a better infiltrator, and an even better master of the silent kill.

He is silent for a long moment, but she is used to such actions from him by now. It means very little except perhaps that he is thinking of what to say. "You know seals?"

She blinks. _Everyone knows how to protect their weapons. It's not as if Anju-san is going to reforge every knife and rod that you use on a mission._ "Not particularly, they aren't my specialty, but these are the ones that everyone learns." She sighs, and sits back down on the floor. "I wasn't as patient as Neesan, and that's so embarrassing now." He looks concerned, and she doesn't want him to be concerned. "But don't worry, these really are very basic, I wouldn't be hurting anything."

 _He doesn't know a thing about sealing._ She realizes suddenly. _I haven't seen a single seal in the entire house._

"Perhaps you could show me what they are." It is a silly thing to ask of her, since he knows nothing about any seal whatsoever, but he's trying, and she'll meet him halfway. He passes her a brush from his writing desk.

She sets it down beside her, and focuses. "Madara-sama..." She says, almost absently. "I don't need-" Chakra gathers under her fingertips and she presses a hand to the floor quickly, picturing the sort of protection that she wants in her mind. "The five points are reflective of the five meridians in the hand when channeling chakra." _I want him to be safe when he is fighting, no internal organ damage, nothing gets past this fan._ She continues speaking, more for her own benefit than his. "They correspond to five vital organs: the heart, the kidney, the liver, the lungs, and the intestines. The central character is the kanji for protection in the Sesho, or grass, style calligraphy which calls for a sense of motion. Each of the rings are written with the repetition of the character for durability."

"How did you-" When she looks up, his eyes are red, pinwheels spinning frantically. It is the first time she's seen the sharingan, and strangely, for a weapon of death, and a so called aberration, it is beautiful.

"Well this one isn't complete, or it would take more effort." It is only a template, which is why she doesn't need to write it with a brush. For the one on his fan, she'd have to spend a considerable amount more effort imbibing each character, and matching it to him specifically. "There's no extra chakra to power this, since I don't think you want to make your floor particularly durable." Normally, a person wrote their own seals for their weapons, but she doubts that she'd be able to teach him satisfactorily, and she doubts he would really like the lessons.

Beginner sealing lessons are boring. So mind numbingly boring that she'd spent hours on end watching Tanaka-san boil sea urchins and squids just to get out of sealing lessons.

 _Which is why you ended up like this, Kanae._ A small voice from the back of her mind pipes up. _This is why Neesan's better at sealing than you._

"They move." He sounds surprised, but also in awe, which makes him seem younger, and less tired.

She laughs and leans over. "Well, there's just enough chakra in there for that." She picks up the seal, easily, reabsorbing the chakra that she put out. "Who else lives in your house besides Izuna-san?" She asks, conversationally, as they sit there together, before the silence between them settles too deeply. She hasn't heard of his other relatives, only that he has a brother.

"No one." And his tone is back to frost. She doesn't know if it is because he doesn't like everyone else, or if it is because-

"You don't have any other family?" She asks, and hopes that this is not a question that she'll regret.

"N-" He stumbles over the word no. "I used to." And he rises, clearly he does not want to discuss this further. "The war took them from me."

And for a moment, all she sees is his bowed shoulders, how sorrow settles into every line of his frame. _So this is what war does. Is that what weighs on you, Madara-sama?_

She rises with him. "Oh." She shakes her head. "To think that I would not speak to Chichi for a month because he let Neesan leave the Island." It is trivial now, that Neesan lived in a different city, that Niisama comes home once a year, that Chichi and Haha do not get along, that the Terrible Twins are terrible, and sometimes she fought with Masato-nii. She still has every member of her family.

"Where am I staying?" It might be insensitive to ask about something so different, but she gets the feeling that he no longer wants to discuss his family, and lack thereof. She suspects he will hate the idea of being related to hers, because he is not a man who _replaces._ "You've shown me the front rooms, your room, and the guest rooms. Is there a room for me?"

He is silent, and Kanae suspects that he made no provisions for her, which nearly causes her to giggle, but not quite.

Izuna-san manages to save his elder brother yet again. "Niisan? We have guests."

"Who?" And again, he strides forward, a heavy cloud of fatigue in his wake.

She decides that he dislikes guests, and she will invite as few of them as possible when they are married.

* * *

She is delighted to learn that Neesan is part of the 'guests.' She is absolutely incensed to learn that Senju Tobirama is also part of the 'guests.'

"You." She's only stepped out from behind Madara-sama, but she's already being accosted by Tobirama.

And this makes her upset, because he had the audacity to ruin the moment. _Before I even get to talk to Neesan I have to deal with your stupid face. How is this fair?_ She smiles, and hopes that he remembers that sometimes, teeth tear out throats. "Me." Tobirama takes a step back. She takes another step forward. "Did you miss me, Senju-san?"

"As if I would miss-"

"Otouto." It's Neesan who cuts him off, and Kanae cheers internally. _Hurt him, Neesan._ But then Neesan turns to her, and admonishes her too. "Kanae-chan, don't be rude." And then she smiles soppily at Hashirama, and it isn't _fair. I am the one you have not seen in months, but-_ "Anata, I'm afraid I want to monopolise my sister's attention."

Hashirama turns to Madara-sama, and Madara-sama _freezes,_ as if he's been hit. She feels more than hears his breath catch in his lungs, and his heart skip a beat.

But she doesn't turn around. There will be time to consider this later.

She bounces forward towards Neesan, who is far more important than trying to figure out what Madara-sama's reaction to Hashirama really means. "Neesan." She bows slightly to Hashirama. "Nice Senju-san, your city is quite interesting." _Even if it's really just a matchstick city and not suited at all for the long term. How will you weather the winter storms?_

Hashirama laughs, and slings an arm over her shoulder that she really wants to shake off. "Imouto! We're a family aren't we? Don't call me something so formal! Call me Hashirama-nii." He sends a besotted look over his shoulder to Neesan, who seems content to humor him. "I've always wanted a little sister, and now I have one." Kanae considers biting his arm.

Maybe that will get him to stop calling her little sister in that obnoxious way of his.

She is not his sister. As far as she is aware, she has five brothers. No more and no less. When she gets married, she will have six brothers, because Izuna-san is included, and that will be it. No more and no less.

Thankfully, Neesan smacks Hashirama with her folding fan. "Stop mobbing my sister, Baka."

He has the audacity to stick his tongue out at Neesan. "Never!" He slings his other arm over Tobirama's shoulders. "Come on, Tobi, we need to go out into the yard. You look happier, Madara!" He calls back over his shoulder, and as they stumble out the door, she sees something frozen in Madara-sama's eyes unthaw.

He still looks disgruntled enough though, so she can't form a complete conclusion.

 _What is it that makes him so hot and cold with Hashirama?_

"And you'll have to tell me how you find Mada!" Hashirama waves his arms about, even as both she and Tobirama wriggle from his death grip. They're out in the yard now.

 _He calls Madara-sama, Mada. The only other person I've heard him call a nickname is his brother._

Something freezes in her chest. Hadn't she always thought that-that Senju Hashirama liked someone else? _He was the one to write about Madara-sama's arrival in Uzu, before I thought it was just because Madara-sama disliked correspondence, but..._

"Are you the one who arranged my marriage?" She asks him. If he arranged it, it means that he doesn't like Madara-sama more than Neesan. Or, it just means he hasn't admitted it yet. She doesn't know, her mind is moving, moving faster than her feet can run.

"Of course I did!" Hashirama leans forward. "I know he can be really gloomy and unkind sometimes, but tell me that he didn't do that to you. You've been so nice the entire time that we were in Uzu."

 _Nice?_ "Nice?" Splutters Tobirama. "She nearly killed me by suffocating me on the beach."

"You mean, I killed your overweening pride by smacking your face into the sand." She bounces toward him, a smile on her face, but her thoughts are still a storm. _Of all the people I despise, I despise you most._ "If I were going to kill you, I would drown you like any self respecting Uzu girl." She wants to drown him.

She's slammed a hand into his chest before she knows it. And then she runs back towards the house.

"TOBI!" Hashirama's there to pull him out of the way, but not before they both are completely drenched in water.

If it had been Neesan trying, they both would have drown before the seal came apart.

Alas, she can only make him a wet cat.

"Neesan!" She clatters back into the room, Hashirama and Tobirama following behind. "Save me!" She hides behind Neesan, who surely will not let her get hurt.

Hashirama appears in the doorway, gray haori dripping. "Imouto...why must you attempt to run away?" He's still calling her little sister.

She is not his little sister and she hates him.

"It's not anything to do with you, Nice Senju-san." She hedges as Neesan moves away, heartlessly. It isn't fair.

It really isn't fair. She hides behind Madara-sama instead, because he is the head of the Uchiha clan, and surely can fight off at least Tobirama.

"It's Hashirama-nii!" Hashirama protests in vain. Behind him, Tobirama appears, and sure enough, he looks like a drowned cat.

From before her, Madara-sama radiates a smug approval. _I think we can get along very well Madara-sama. You seem to hate the same man I do._

She ignores the man that Madara-sama most certainly does not hate for the moment. "But I don't want to spend any time with the other Senju-san."

"And that's Tobirama-nii, right Tobi?" Hashirama has not seen his brother's expression. Hashirama is an idiot if he thinks that she ever wants to call Senju Tobirama brother.

 _All of my brothers are better men than you._

"Why I would ever want to be related to some rabid dog, I will never understand." It takes her a moment to realize that it isn't her he's insulted. He'd called _Madara-sama_ a rabid dog, and Madara-sama has frozen, but he hasn't said a thing. "Actually I'm not sure that a dog would rip out his brother's eyes."

He trembles, weak at the knees, and she feels is fatigue and his sorrow and his despair worse than ever.

In a moment she knows, it is Senju Tobirama who drives the knife of war deeper in his chest.

"Senju-san." She steps out in front of him, because he is hers now, hers to keep safe. She's decided and that will be enough, and draws herself up to her full height _._ "I don't think you're welcome in my house. Get out before I make you."

He crosses his arms, and stands there, arrogantly. "Make me." The man says, and Kanae's lips draw back exposing teeth. _You dare bait the Viper? You-I don't care if it makes Neesan upset._

 _I will kill you._

Madara-sama is still frozen.

"Tobi!" And again, Hashirama is late to disciplining his brother. She loses another shred of respect for him, this one larger than the rest. If he'd arranged Madara-sama's _marriage_ he has to be important to Madara-sama. And he does not defend what is important to him. "How could you ever say something like that? Madara's the one who first had this dream with me! I am ecstatic that we'll be related to him soon."

 _What? He is this important to you, and you can't even get your own brother to stop hurting him?_

Her mind and heart are one. _Senju Tobirama will die should he ever eat food in my house._

 _I don't care if he is protected by guest right._

 _Or blood right._

 _Or marriage right._

 _There is no right on this earth that can keep me from giving him the most painful death I can imagine._

It's Neesan who comes to her defense, also a beat too late. "Threaten my sister again, Tobirama, and I will not be kind."

"Neesan! I do not need you to fight my battles." _I was captain of the border guard. I was the Red Viper. I was protecting you, always._

She doesn't need an elder sibling to fight for her. She can fight for herself.

"I brought tea?" Izuna-san steps into the room, a tray balanced in his hands, a small smile on his lips, and fighting comes to a screeching halt.

Kanae wonders how much he's heard.

She and Neesan go out to sit on the porch. She's still worried that Madara-sama will suffer for an absence, but he has Izuna-san now, so that has to be enough. "He doesn't love you, you know, Kanae-chan. What possessed you to agree to marrying him?"

And oh, Neesan. Neesan who'd been kept in the dark. Neesan who didn't know how many people sacrificed for her to sit where she is now. Kanae almost wants to tell her.

Almost wants to tell her that Katsu-kun died, that Saya-chan died, that what did she think Kanae was going to do? Sit around in her house and watch her people starve?

No. She can't do it.

"I know he doesn't love me, Neesan." She flips her hair over her shoulder, and smiles like she means it. "But have you ever found a heart that I couldn't win?"

Neesan giggles, but still looks so worried. "Kanae-chan, stop joking. Do you love him?"

Kanae considers it. _No._ Says her heart. _You do not love him._ "Yes." Says her mouth, to Neesan, because this is the only way that Neesan will accept her marriage. "I do."

Neesan looks like she's about to say more, but there's the sound of breaking glass and raised voices inside, and Kanae leaps to her feet and rushes inside.

Madara-sama is disappearing down the hall. Izuna-san stands there, shaking with fury.

Hashirama has a hold on his brother who is struggling to rush after Madara-sama. "I'll kill him!" Tobirama hisses. "That bastard-"

"I think it's time for you to leave, Senju- _san."_ She steps forward, between Izuna-san and the other two Senju. "You've done quite enough for the day."

Hashirama looks at her for a tired moment, and she sees something like pain in his eyes, but she doesn't care. "Get out." She hisses stalking forward. "Get out before you really make me."

They go.

"Madara-sama?" He can't have gotten far down the hall-there. He has a hand against the wall, mouth opening and closing like he is struggling to breath, like a drowning man, gasping for air. "Madara-sama?" She reaches for his arm.

She's only touched him for a moment, but he tears away as if she's frozen him, and wheels around.

"Get out." He hisses, and his sharingan is spinning, spinning, but his eyes are unseeing. There is such pain in his voice, as if he's waiting to fall apart.

"I was only going to ask if you-" His eyes stop moving. He's staring at her, she doesn't know why.

"Ripped out my brother's eyes?" He slams a hand against the opposite wall, just over her shoulder, and stands there, chest heaving. He looks like he's drowning, like he's dying by pieces, and it's the most broken she's ever seen him.

"Actually-" She'd forgotten about that, but his mention brings it back to the forefront of her thoughts.

"Whose eyes do you think I have?" He roars. His voice is like thunder, and it echoes and booms and cracks over the wooden walls, rattling them until she almost wants to run. But no, he's not trying to hurt her particularly, and she cannot run now. She holds her ground. "Whose eyes do you think I have?" He says again, and when he does, he sounds like a lost boy, no older than Katsu-kun.

"If you do have Izuna-san's," She touches him carefully, uncertain if he can really stand to be soothed at the moment, but he doesn't say anything, just nearly collapses under her hands. "I'm sure you have your reasons." She smiles, because he really needs to know that she isn't trying to hurt him more. "He loves you so, Madara-sama, as you love him." In her mind's eye, she sees him stepping before Izuna-san once more when confronted by Habiki-san, sees his hand on Izuna-san's elbow, guiding him over the side of the boat.

If that is not love, then she doesn't know what is.

His head comes to rest on her shoulder, and he stains it wet with tears. "I-"

"Breathe." She tells him, and holds him tighter. "It's alright to breathe." _I am not here to drown you._ Water drowns, but water also saves. _I will not drown him, Obaasan. He'll stay alive._

He gasps.

Her hands rub absent circles over his back. "The war has hurt you." _You have lost your family._ "Senju Tobirama hurts you more." _And I will kill him for you, so no worries. You won't grieve over his loss I'm sure._

"Call me what I am." He sighs from his place on her shoulder. "Broken."

 _Oh you dramatic man. You've been hurt, but you're hardly dead yet._ "You are not broken." She says, and she knows it.

"Oh?" He asks, and he sounds more alive again. "What am I then?"

"You're _heavy._ " Now that he isn't in danger of shattering to pieces like a block of ice under an axe, she really feels the press of his armor, of every plate. _How does he wear something like this, day in and day out?_ "And for someone who says he doesn't want me, you're perfectly comfortable draped over me."

"I am not heavy." He sounds like a little boy, with little boy dreams. He doesn't raise his head, even when she forces him down the hall, and to his room.

* * *

Izuna-san is waiting for them when she pushes open the door. "Niisan?" He asks, because he cannot see her. "Are you alright? Is Kanae-san fine?"

"Hush." She whispers, as she props Madara-sama against the wall."He's mostly asleep." He needs to sleep.

She no longer believes that it will make him less tired.

Being tired by life isn't something that can be changed with more sleep.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Izuna-san asks, anxiously, reaching out in her general direction, but he's off, because she hadn't spoken for long enough, or loud enough for him to find her.

"No, he didn't." She says, and starts unlacing Madara-sama's shoulder guards. "Why does Senju Tobirama hate him so?"

It is only a prelude to what she really wants to ask, but she doesn't think Izuna-san would respond very well to a question regarding where his eyes went, and if Madara-sama really has his eyes.

"He thinks that he's better than us." Izuna-san spits, and finally finds where she is. "He thinks we're barbarians, all of us."

"And do his accusations ring true?" She unlaces the breastplate next, and eases it off gently.

"N-no." Izuna-san sits down again, on the floor, and he too sounds sad. "You want to know about my eyes, didn't you?"

So he's perceptive too. "I won't lie and say that I didn't." She comments mildly. Now that Madara-sama is mostly unarmored, he seems smaller, less threatening even in sleep. She bends down and pries the sandals from his feet.

"He was going blind." Izuna-san says, and wraps his arms around his knees, shaking back and forth. "I couldn't watch it. We were at war, and I couldn't watch him die because he couldn't even make out the trees anymore." _So you decided that you'd rather be blind instead._

 _You love him. You revere him._

 _You're like me._ And her mind goes to Niisama, who is still fighting his battles on the wing, still locked in conflict of his own. She needs to think of another topic of conversation. This is too heavy for tonight. "Where is his sleeping clothes?"

"Did you undress him?" Izuna-san sounds...slightly alarmed.

She huffs and thwacks his shoulder. "Mind from the gutter, Izuna-san. I will hardly take advantage of him when he's sleeping."

"Well, then I can tell you that he doesn't normally sleep with clothes." He sounds so innocent when saying this too, but she's been the little sister of the Terrible Twins for too long.

"Is that supposed to embarrass me?" She asks him, as she rolls Madara-sama to his futon, still fully clothed, and tucks him in. It is what she's wanted to do all along, and finally doing it makes everything better.

Izuna-san has the audacity to pout. "Yes."

"I have five brothers." She tells him. "You cannot embarrass me with anything anymore." Well, perhaps not anything, and Madara-sama is most certainly not her brother, but Izuna-san doesn't need to know that.

* * *

She falls asleep against the bookshelf directly after putting his armor away, but despite how tiring last night had been, she wakes with the sun. Even though she wakes with the sun, she doesn't actually move.

It's too lethargic a morning to move, besides, it's much more fun to just watch him.

It is almost funny, the fear on his face as he realizes that his armor has been put away, and that he'd been rather carefully put to bed.

"You needn't worry." She says. "Izuna-san was waiting for you in your room when we got back." And he looks so relieved. _What did you think I did to you?_

It must be because he hasn't any sisters. It really must be, otherwise he wouldn't be so...confused.

"Why did you stay?" And now that he's awake again, the fatigue is back.

It's not as heavy as before though, so she'll take what she can get. "Why wouldn't I have stayed?"

"I didn't scare you?" He sounds so small, even while climbing to his feet.

She laughs, and runs a hand through her hair, smoothing it down. It is unfortunate that she cannot roll out of bed with beautiful hair. "You're not really scary, Madara-sama." She breezes past him, and picks up his chest plate. "Niisama is scarier than an entire battalion of Hoshigaki warriors when he's in a rage." He'd not been the scary one last night.

It had been what he'd nearly done to himself that was scary, but he'd done nothing to her.

Nothing at all, except sob on her shoulder like it is the last place that he could rest his head.

"What am I?" He asks her. It takes her a moment to remember that she ought to be joking, ought to be light.

"You're perhaps two Hoshigakis." She tells him as she laces his shoulder guards. His disgruntled look makes her laugh though. "No really, why would you ever want to know something like that?"

"When did you learn this?" He looks like he suspects what she did last night.

So she'll have to dissuade that line of thinking when it makes him so uncomfortable. "I've helped Niisama armor up ever since I was seven." She pulls his hair out from under the shoulder guards, remembering to be gentle, because Niisama, the dolt, only braids his long hair after he's been armored, and he'd been none too happy when she'd tugged harshly back when she'd been both ten and impatient. "He used to be home much more often." But that is before he became embroiled in the current conflict, too busy for more than a visit once a year. She misses him, misses his music and his dance and his art, and even misses his sarcastic mouth, and cutting wit, and his alien nature."But it's different now."

"Why were you sleeping against the bookcase?" Maybe she ought not bore him with discussions about his brother.

"Mmmm." She looks away. To admit that she'd fallen asleep after putting his armor away is to admit that she'd unarmored him to begin with. "I thought I was supposed to ask you uncomfortable questions, Madara-sama."

"Madara." He tells her. "My _name_ is Madara." He sounds peeved, almost like he expects her to call him only that.

"Yes," She says, the smallest of smiles on her lips. "I am perfectly well aware that your name is Madara-sama." She can't possibly do it. He deserved more respect than that, but mostly, it is just funny to watch the lighting spark uselessly in his eyes.

He storms from the room, and she follows behind him, quietly laughing.

* * *

The wedding is two days later, and it is very small, which suits her mood, because she doesn't want to think of weddings that could have been.

Besides, large weddings remind her of Neesan's wedding, which had directly caused hers to begin with.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Neesan asks her as she tucks and pins the padding into place, and ties the plain obi of the first under kimono. "You can still back out, and go home, Kanae-chan. He doesn't love you."

 _I don't love him either, and I cannot go home._ "Oh hush, Neesan." She says, as she paints her lips purple with powdered pearls. "I will make him love me." Hardly likely, given what she has been considering.

Madara-sama doesn't seem like a man concerned with romancing his wife. She doesn't really want him to anyway.

But this is what Neesan needs to hear, even if it isn't what she wants to hear, so that's what she'll hear. Far be it for Kanae to rain on her parade. "And don't say such unlucky things on my wedding day, Neesan."

"I wish I had your calm." Neesan sighs, and knots the outer obi very tightly, as if she doesn't want anyone to be able to take it off, though Madara-sama probably will have to if Kanae doesn't undo it herself, and leans in so that she's looking at Kanae in the mirror. "I was so nervous on my wedding day about whether or not Hashi-baka would love me."

 _That is because you loved him, Neesan._ She puts on her brightest smile, as Neesan starts to comb through her hair. "One bun or two?" She asks.

"One." Neesan had asked for two, and wore two still. She wants to be Uzumaki Kanae, princess of Uzu for a little longer. Kanae-hime wore one bun.

"You brought your plain hair pins." Neesan comments, as she slides them in. "Did you forget to set out Masato-nii's?"

"I gave them to Haruhi-chan." Kanae confesses. "I wanted to leave something of mine behind for them."

Neesan sighs from above her, and pronounces the hairstyle missing something. She reaches up, and takes the whalebone comb from her own hair, and slides it into Kanae's. "Perfect." She whispers. "I don't think I'll ever understand what you see in Uchiha Madara. He's such a dark man."

Kanae raises an eyebrow at her. "He is not dark, and I am the Viper, so we'll match."

She wonders what Madara-sama said to Neesan to make Neesan wary of him.

Perhaps it is because Madara-sama is in love with her husband, and she can feel it. _We love what we love. Chichi has shown that often enough._

One can marry anyone, anyone at all, and be treated like a god or a king, it didn't matter the slightest. The heart wants what the heart wants, and no amount of entreating, begging, kindness or sorrow can change that.

Chichi lived with his face turned towards the western sky, and Haha lived watching him.

* * *

The priest offers Madara-sama the smallest sake cup first, and pours three times. The first cup is for the heavens.

He takes the required three sips, and passes the cup to her.

She takes three sips, and toasts the first Kanae in her mind. _Is this how you felt too?_ At the end of this she will no longer be Uzumaki Kanae, princess of Uzu, daughter of Uzumaki Ashina, but Uzumaki Kanae, Lady Uchiha, wife of Uchiha Madara. _Did you feel like this when you married Uzumaki Ishiro to keep the peace?_

She is offered the second cup, the cup of earth, first. This is the cup of love. She nearly chokes on the sake as she takes the three sips. This is the most consummate lie that she will ever tell.

She doesn't love him, but she will care for him, take care of him, when no one else has or perhaps ever will, and maybe it will be enough.

She hopes that it will be enough, because life will be so terribly sad if it isn't.

She takes the required three sips, and passes him the cup.

The third cup. Fertility. It doesn't bother her much.

Her own mother had born four sons and two daughters. The prayer to the Kami is nothing more than formality.

And then they rise, clapping twice in perfect unison. The cups have been exchanged.

It is time for the vow before the gods.

It is the new husband's job to speak the vow. She only has to add her name at the end.

"On this day, before kami, we are thankful for this ceremony. Going forward, we will love each other, trust one another, share the good times and the bad, and swear that this will stay unchanged until our bones are dust." He pauses for a brief moment, but he does not stumble. "Uchiha Madara."

"Uzumaki Kanae." Her voice is clear, and her heart is sure.

 _Don't worry._ She thinks, for his parents, both of whom are dead, and therefore here in the room with them. _I will take care of your son. He will need nothing that I can not give him, and maybe then, he'll find some measure of peace._

The priest offers them each a sprig of evergreen, which ought to carry their prayers to the gods.

She shuts her eyes, and prays for the lives of her people, that her life will be enough. _Let this be enough, that no child in Uzu will ever starve again._

 _Katsu-kun. Your princess could do nothing for you, but she can do something for those that come after you._

 _Find your peace._

The evergreen is set before the altar.

It is done.

* * *

 **A.N.** And now we have the wedding! And Kanae making rash decisions left and right. She really has a bad impression of all things Senju in this moment. If only because well, she's a biased biased soul.

Thanks so much to LittleMissSugarLess, wyteeth, bunnyguest, and TheSilenceisVast for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited and followed.

~Tavina


	6. Unlit Embers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"What do we any of us have but our illusions?

And what do we ask of others but that we be allowed to keep them?"

-W. Somerset Maugham

* * *

Neesan wraps her in a tight hug, when the ceremony is officially finished, and leans in. "Be careful, Kanae-chan. He isn't-" And Neesan's voice catches, in that way that it does when she's worried. "Just be careful." She says at last, and turns to Hashirama who is patting Madara-sama on the back.

Madara-sama looks a crossed between pained and ecstatic. It is a strange combination.

Kanae never does learn what Neesan thinks Madara-sama isn't, because she walks off with her hand on Hashirama's arm.

Izuna-san also takes his leave. He does not stop at his room across the hall, instead, he keeps going. "Have a good night, Niisan, Kanae-neesan." His words, and the implications of them nearly stains her cheeks red, but she can distract herself with something else that he's said.

"Izuna-san! I'm five years younger than you." It's a legitimate protest, he is very much older than her, but it's also very hollow.

She's married his elder brother, it is only natural that she be his elder sister-in-law.

Izuna-san has the audacity to raise his hand and wave at her, and not apologize.

It causes Madara-sama to turn to her, something of dread on his features. "Shall we go?"

She freezes for a moment, because she remembers how Madara-sama had _looked_ at Hashirama, like he'd hung the stars and the moon, but then she straightens her shoulders, and looks him in the eye. "Yes." She says clearly. "Yes, we should." _You may want my sister's husband, but I'm afraid that you only have me instead._

 _I hope that's alright with you._

They head in.

She pulls the hood off of her hair, and then reaches behind her to unknot the obi. She is right, Neesan had put too much effort into this, because it does not want to come undone. _Neesan, I think you've done the opposite of whatever you wanted to do. This just hands me to Madara-sama on a platter._

She takes a deep breath, and tries very hard to not imagine what this night will be like. She does not know if he is like Masato-nii who simply prefers men, or if he is like Aruta-nii who doesn't care particularly who he goes to bed with, or if he is like Ashiro-nii who fell in love with a man but desired women in his bed, or maybe he is like Niisama, Niisama who loves deeply and desires no one in particular, man, woman, or youkai. She only knows that he is not Korui-nii who fell haplessly in love with a girl that could not return his feelings.

She has no idea. She only knows that whatever Madara-sama feels for Senju Hashirama, it is infinitely more complicated than perhaps all of her elder brothers' trysts put together.

She can still not untie her obi. Her hands are shaking too badly, and she is hardly concentrating. _How will you win his heart if you look more like a little girl or some ungainly bird than a seductress?_

She remembers that what she'd told Neesan had been a lie, that she doesn't particularly want to seduce Madara-sama, or win his heart, but-but if he kept loving Hashirama she can only imagine that one day perhaps Hashirama would notice, and if he noticed she couldn't trust Neesan to not get hurt. She still doesn't trust Neesan's husband, no matter how hard he tries to win her over.

"Come here." Madara-sama rumbles, he sounds amused and his voice is electric. She doesn't know why he would, he'd not been in a particularly good mood earlier.

She looks at him briefly and tries to understand. "Madara-sama?"

A flash of irritation flits over his face. "I am not a pig." He snaps, and turns away. "But if you have some desire to fall asleep against my bookcase fully dressed you are welcome."

Oh. _Oh._ And that's enough for her to break into relieved laughter. He'd misinterpreted her so. She hadn't thought he'd been looking at her with anything approaching lust whatsoever. _You are my husband now, yes? If you are not allowed to look at me, then who would be?_ "I am sorry." She sets a hand on his shoulder. "If you are offering to help it will be appreciated, and I would much prefer not to sleep against your bookcase." Sometimes, he acts as if he is no older than a child, easily irritated, prickly, like a bedraggled kitten refusing a towel.

"Who is it that cannot untie a knot?" And now he is poking at her inabilities, because he wants to hide his own reaction. But he is genuinely amused by her struggle.

She huffs and turns around. "Neesan pulled it too tight." _She didn't want you to be able to undo it easily, because she was being nervous and passive aggressive._ "I'm good at undoing knots that I tie."

He doesn't seem to be paying attention. Instead, he takes the whalebone pins from her hair, followed shortly after by the comb. Behind her, he sighs, as her hair comes loose.

She still doesn't know exactly what he desires of tonight. She'll have to ask then.

"Madara-sama?" She turns her head, and his hands freeze for a moment, still tangled in her hair.

"It looked tight." He seems to be trying to justify his interest in her hair. It must fascinate him more than he lets on then. _Perhaps he does like girls with red hair._ She thinks, and almost laughs.

"No, that's not what I was going to ask." She turns around a little more. "Have you ever loved anyone?" _Who exactly do you want to share your bed?_

He freezes, for one long and horrified moment.

"No." He snaps. "No one. Ever." _Oh._

 _No._ "Oh, well, theonlypeoplethatIhaveeverkissedarementhatI'vekilled." She says this all in one breath, because the faster it is out of her mouth the less she will blush and regret saying it. "SoIsupposethatwedon'treallyknowhattodo..."

He turns around, and unknots her obi. "If you are asking if I have ever slept with a woman the answer would be yes." He hisses under his breath, frustration clear in every word.

She stiffens. The first layer of her wedding kimono slides from her shoulders. _So you are closer to Ashiro-nii's perception of love then. Or perhaps Aruta-nii._

She could seduce him then. Perhaps his is a heart that she could win. But no. It is wrong to think this, just for the sake of sparing Neesan a little anxiety. From what Kanae knows, Madara-sama hardly openly professes his feelings for her sister's husband out on the street. He seems to have pressed it into a place deep inside his heart, and didn't let it out for anything.

He is a man who deserves more than a wife who would manipulate him. _Don't skin him in the first month, Shiko._

She will not skin him, not ever. She'd be kind to him, she would. And maybe one day, she'll wipe the fatigue from his shoulders, the bags from under his eyes and he'd be happy. He didn't have to be drunk on love for her for that.

"Did any of them have red hair?" She asks, because that is a safer topic than what her thoughts had deemed necessary to consider. She rests her head on his chest, and his heartbeat pounds in her ears, like a drunken drummer. She closes her eyes. _Do so few people ever touch you, Madara-sama, that my touch feels holy to your skin?_

"No." He sounds uncomfortable. She doesn't want him to be.

"Hmmm." Her breath fans out against his neck. "Well, at least I know that you didn't marry me for my hair, despite how taken you seem to be with it."

He chokes. "It is bearable." _So you won't say that you find it pretty? It embarrasses you that you find it lovely?_ Or maybe he does only think that it is bearable.

She turns around to face him. "Only bearable?" She asks, because that is an awfully disappointing thought. Her hair is her best feature, and she loves it possessively enough to wear it long despite all the dangers it could pose in a fight. "I like my hair."

"It is headache red." He snaps, but he blushes under the light of the candles. She sees it rising on his neck.

She raises a hand to his face, and traces the sagging skin under his eye with a thumb. He does not feel like he is drowning, only like he is burning. She wonders what it would be like were he just pleasantly warm. "Doesn't it match your eyes, Madara-sama?" She asks him rather absently. "Wouldn't your eyes also be headache red then?"

His heart stutters, and she knows then, that it would be easy, easy to be a wine that he's never drunk before, and rob him blind, twist his heart, break him open. That she could take the shell that remains of him, and smash him instead of stitching him together. She knows with more conviction, that she would never do such a thing. Not to this man.

 _Obaasan once told me, that the girls of Uzu are born with faces that topple empires. I thought that was only for noblemen. I thought that was only a platitude she made up._

He tilts her head up with a finger, and leans in, stopping when there is less than an inch of space between their faces. There is something living in his eyes. "No." He tells her. "They are not the same sort of red at all."

She smiles. _You will want for nothing I cannot give you, Madara-sama._ "It's the same shade of red." Her hand slides to the back of his neck. She leans forward that last inch, and brushes her lips against his.

Her heart moves. Obaasan was right. It would be easy to love him.

All of his bleeding edges, all of his bent dreams.

She is still a seamstress. It would be easy to get lost in the process of stitching him together.

* * *

She wakes before the sun the next morning to his face buried in her hair, his cheek pressed in the hollow of her shoulder blades, his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. They sleep like lovers might. It would be easy to mistake it.

She sits up, and he lets go, turning onto his back arms outstretched. In the fading hours before dawn, the moon's reign wanes. His skin is still lit by the pale glow from the windows, and she traces his scars.

He has so many. So many at only twenty-four.

There are men on the island twice his age with fewer scars. A long one, over his abdomen, likely a sword wound, a score or more smaller ones, on places where the armor wouldn't reach, a newer one, still pink running the length of his forearm. He has lived through hell then. Lived to tell the tale. Stronger than he thinks.

No more hell for him. His life at home will, at the very least, be harmonious.

"Mmm." His hand closes over hers. "It is late." He sighs and pulls her down. "Stay."

It is a plea, not a command. "Madara-sama?"

She suspects that whatever scars there are on his body, that they do not compare in size or depth to the ones on his heart. _His self inflicted wounds might be greater than anything any man could cut from him._

"Stay." He sighs once more, and slips deeper into sleep.

She wishes she could, but breakfast doesn't cook itself, and she needs to take stock of what actual food he kept in his house. She slips from his grip, and sighs and turns once more.

As it turns out, not very much at all. She dresses, pins her hair up with a hairpin and a string of pearls. She picks up a basket by the kitchen door that has seen better days, and heads out into the city. The market, from Neesan's letters, is situated in the center.

Her new house is closer to the edge, but she does want to learn what is so fascinating about Konoha in general.

"How much for the fish, Obaasan?" She asks one of the vendors, who seemingly tries to recognise her.

"Mito-hime?" The elderly woman squints at her. "No, you just seem to share a resemblance..."

"Kanae." She tells the woman. "Uz-Uchiha Kanae." She corrects herself. Formally, she may be Uzumaki Kanae, Lady Uchiha, but that would confuse people. At the moment, she is Uchiha Kanae.

"An Uchiha?" The elderly woman leans forward. "I can't imagine that you have an easy time of it, child. Especially not with that clan head, all of them look so much like one another."

 _That clan head._ She means Madara-sama. Kanae smiles, politely, brittlely and wonders what exactly Madara-sama has ever done to deserve being spoken of so casually on the street. "My husband has been very kind to me." She says softly, and remembers how he'd looked, how his scars marked him under the light of the moon.

"Oh, my, I didn't realize that Uchiha Madara was married." The elderly woman looks so flustered, but Kanae's not entirely sure that she cares. "I'm sure I would have known..."

It is only her luck that she's chosen to buy fish from the town's gossip. She won't do it again, she's sure of it. "How much for the fish, Obaasan?" She asks again, an edge to her voice for this woman who does not act the way she ought.

It's as she tries to find miso sauce that she runs back into Senju Tobirama.

"Uzu woman." He says, and tries to take her wrist, but she twists away from him.

"What is it that you want, Senju-san?" She could offer to sit with him in the teahouse across the way. He'd be dead before the sun is over the trees, but she's found that it's not that she's bought fish from the town's gossip.

It's that it seems as though every vendor in this city knows Uchiha Madara, and his 'poor' blind brother. Everyone knows some version of the rumors. Practically everyone thinks her new husband is the devil himself.

She's tired. She's concerned.

She doesn't have the energy for a kill this morning. She wants to go back to her house and finish making breakfast, and see if Madara-sama is really still alive.

She should have stayed.

"I just wanted to tell you to watch yourself." He runs a hand through his white hair, and looks, for some reason, hesitant and frustrated. "You might be married to _that man_ now, and you might have been obnoxious, but you're still Mito-neesan's sister. Uchiha Madara isn't to be trusted with anything, much less the lives of other people."

And it seems that Senju Tobirama has a redeeming bone in his body after all. It's just that his attempts to help are so much worse than she suspects. "Senju-san," She says, and stands there, looking up at him. "Make sure you mind Neesan, don't prod my husband, and don't worry about me." She moves past him. "I can take care of myself. I wonder if you can say the same."

She leaves him spluttering behind her, and goes in search of the elusive miso sauce, a cloud of whispers rising in her wake, like gulls over a bleeding corpse.

No wonder this place weighed on Madara-sama. No one here even thinks he is a man.

* * *

Izuna-san volunteers to wake Madara-sama, and she lets him do it, when the fish is nearly done. She hears them come back to the kitchen shortly after.

"-'ve fallen so far in your domestic tranquility. I remember the days when-" This is Izuna-san, who sounds like every cheeky younger sibling would.

"-say another word about my domestic bliss and-" And that is Madara-sama, who sounds so embarrassed, that she almost laughs and spills soup onto the countertop.

"-satisfied that you want me to go away forever and ever? You're so mean, Niisan." They've arrived in the kitchen now, and she turns to regard the two of them. "Kanae-neesan, Niisan is being so mean to me...he wants me to move away so he can have you all to himself."

If only the townspeople could see this scene, they would never again consider Madara-sama a devil for taking his brother's eyes, and they would also never again consider Izuna-san some sort of poor cripple.

"I doubt that's what Madara-sama means, Izuna-san." To distract herself from the disturbing whispers outside, she sets out her breakfast, and wonders if Madara-sama even likes the foods that she's made. "I made miso soup and grilled fish. Oh, and rice too." That is the one thing that she'd found plenty of in the house.

"When did you have time to buy the ingredients?" Madara-sama is still staring at his food, like he expects it to jump up and bite him. He doesn't remember that he asked her to stay, and she didn't stay then.

"It's nearly noon, Madara-sama." She shrugs. "I went to visit the market of course." She doesn't know where he keeps his money. She'd paid them in pearls instead. "They seem to like pearls."

"You could have been attacked." He says, even as he lifts the entire bowl to his lips. His concern is warm, and on this morning, it seems as though the city outside his doorstep weighs on him less.

He seems to approve of her breakfast choices.

Then his words catch up to her. She blinks. "Inside the city?"

He frowns at her, over the rim of his bowl, concern quite clear in his eyes. "You are unarmed, and they greatly enjoy staring at you."

 _He's remembered when we first came in._ She didn't think that he would, but he should know that she wouldn't be concerned with that sort of thing. "What does that even mean?"

The front door slides open, before he can answer. "Madara-sama!" A man that she doesn't know intrudes in the kitchen, but he freezes as soon as he takes in the image.

Madara-sama sets his soup down. "Ah?" He sounds decidedly annoyed.

"Well, it was a small thing really...I wouldn't like to intrude." The man's gaze slides to Madara-sama's neck. Her own gaze follows him there. _Oh. Kami. I bruised him._

"What seems to be the problem?" Madara-sama sounds both confused and irritated.

"Well, it's just that Taiko..."

"What about Taiko?"

"Well...He started a dispute with one of the Hyuga next door and now they're brawling in the street?"

She can see the moment when his fatigue comes back.

She brushes a hand over his. "I'll go." Kanae rises heads towards the man who'd unintentionally brought all the tension back. "Why don't you tell me who you are? And where the brawlers are?" She smiles, because it's not this man's fault in particular.

"I'm going." Madara-sama announces.

She almost sighs. "Madara-sama." She turns around and pushes him back into his chair. "You are not finished eating breakfast, and you won't go out without full body armor anyway. Sit down and finish breakfast, this won't take long."

She well remembers what it is like to settle disputes. She'd even bring them back for punishment.

He frowns and crosses his arms. "No. I'm going."

She tries out her pout on him. "Please?"

He cracks in the face of it like brittle glass, folds like wet rice paper. "Fine."

She almost laughs at his disgruntled expression, and follows the other man out the door. "So who are you?"

The man beside her shakes his head. "I have never seen Madara-sama back down so easily." He looks her up and down. "You really are something. Are all girls from Uzu like you?"

She waves a hand in his direction, and laughs. "I will have you know that I was a princess in Uzu, of course I'm special."

"Setsuna, Uchiha Setsuna." He nods in her direction. "But just call me Setsuna, Uzumaki-hime."

"Kanae-hime, Setsuna-san." Uzumaki-hime reminds her that she's not really in Uzu any longer, that her presence there will be erased like writing on the sand. "Now show me the brawlers."

* * *

The two boys, one repentant, the other certain not, have both disappeared out the door. Madara-sama seems slightly in shock, as if he couldn't believe that they'd bothered. It hurts her soul, how much he doesn't expect from his people.

Chichi would never stand for such insubordination, but then, Madara-sama is many years younger than the King of Uzu, and as far as she is aware, there is no king of Konoha.

She remembers, suddenly and strangely thankfully, that Izuna-san has not seen what she's done to his brother. "I bruised you." And that is embarrassing, but she's doing her best to erase it now. "I'm sorry, it's gone now, so there's no need to worry." She steps behind him, and finds that his need to wear armor really is quite inconvenient. "Did I hurt you anywhere else?"

"He is a warrior of the clan." Madara-sama does not seem to be in an answering mood. She's sure it means that she has hurt him somewhere else, and it both embarrasses and perturbs him. How easily she does it, she doesn't understand entirely.

She shrugs and moves on towards the breakfast table. "He is a little boy, only fourteen or so." They are speaking of the boys she'd dragged in to apologize to him, and they are really just little boys.

"He's been fighting the clan's battles since he was eight."

She turns to him. " _Eight?_ " _What sort of war were you fighting that you needed a child of eight to do the work of a man grown?_ "I wasn't sent out until I was twelve and even then, Haha raged about how it was too early. Eight. Chichi was right. Mainlanders are crazy." She hadn't really believed his stories of killing children in the mainland warzone.

She really should have. It must have been a slaughter. A chill perches between her shoulder blades. How lucky had Taiko-kun been, to still be alive to drag? How lucky is Madara-sama to have survived to twenty-four?

No wonder he'd thought it strange that Obaasan is seventy-seven. No wonder Izuna-san had not believed Tanaka-san's age.

"Where were you sent out to, at age twelve?" He sounds displeased, sounds worried and concerned.

"Missions." She takes in his clenched hands, and his frown, and wishes that she could soothe it away. "I am a shinobi even if Uzu doesn't march to war."

"Who are you exactly?"

She blinks. _He thought I didn't fight? But I told-_ "I told you all about myself in my self introduction back in Uzu." She sighs. He'd been so tired then. "Of course, I put you to sleep then, didn't I? Well, I'll tell you about myself again, alright? My name is Kanae. I enjoy the color blue. In my spare time, I am a seamstress. In my daily life, I used to be the captain of Uzu's border guard, and the master of poisons. They called me the Red Viper."

He sits down, and his hands seem to tremble. "You're the Viper?" She nods. "You were the captain of the Uzu border guard?"

She nods. "You seemed to have missed all the important bits, Madara-sama." _Were you really so tired then? So disinterested?_

"I assume if I am unsatisfactory, I'll wind up dead." He sounds resigned, as if dead is something that he expects of himself now. She shakes away the thought that she'd flippantly believed that she'd be capable of killing him were he to be unkind to her.

She sits down next to him, and takes his hand. "Hardly. I promised you yesterday that we would share the good times and the bad. We've eaten at the same table, you know." Guest right. No, not guest right now, he has marriage right, and family right, and so many rights. Her mercy. Her care.

She has promised his parents. She'd give him the moon if she could. "You're very fond of Senju Hashirama, Madara-sama." She doesn't mean to say this, but she doesn't like to live with secrets. It's no wonder that it sneaks from her lips when she isn't paying attention.

"What?" His voice is hoarse with shock.

"You like him." She says, tracing the veins on his hands. If they are to have this discussion, then she ought to continue. She's already made the admission. "But he likes my sister and you haven't told him, even though unconsciously he knows and that makes him uncomfortable, so you have me instead." She tilts her head back. "And of course, I assume the clan demands heirs which is a little difficult to do when you're a man who loves a man." When put that way, their marriage does sound rather...sad.

Almost as if it's to make way for Neesan and Hashirama's happiness.

Which, she supposes, is true enough.

"What?" He croaks once more.

"Don't act so surprised, Madara-sama." She looks him in the eye, and he squirms as though he expects her to hiss her disgust at him. She isn't disgusted with him. "We love what we love. Chichi has proven that often enough."

Chichi, with his face turned towards the western sky. Haha, watching him from across the room.

She will not be Haha, no matter how much she loves Haha. Will not be the bitter spurned lover in a marriage that she can't escape. Which means she will never give the man beside her her heart unless she wants it to be broken.

She'll just give him everything else, and their lives will be enough.

There are so many different types of love, so many different types of care. He doesn't need a lover, or an object of affection. He needs a seamstress to stitch over the scars of his heart.

"Just," and this is the most important thing she'd ask of him. "If Hashirama-san ever says yes to you, say no to him please. I wouldn't mind it." And she truly wouldn't. He deserves to be happy, but before that, Neesan deserves her wedded bliss. "but Neesan really does love him. It would break her heart, Madara-sama." _And I would have to pick up her pieces._

 _I don't want to pick up my sister's pieces and sew her together._

 _She deserves to remain unbroken._

She leaves before he responds, because she knows that there is no way he could ever promise her this. She loves Neesan, but he does not.

If she had a person she loved, and if she could have them, then she would. Every person has a right to their own pursuit of happiness, even if it destroyed those around them.

* * *

 **A.N.** And we get this discussion from Kanae's perspective. Does anyone mind that Moonrise is lagging behind Sunfall in terms of timeline? (Thoughts would be appreciated on if I should just keep updating Moonrise until it catches up, or keep updating both at the same time, which means that Moonrise is about four chapters behind Sunfall at this point.)

Thank you so much to TheSilenceIsVast (It's nice to know that you gave this a try despite not expecting to like it so much.) LittleMissSugarLess, bunnyguest (I agree. Ignorance is not bliss, but Kanae thinks that it is. Strangely enough, I don't think Mito would agree with that assessment.), fernandfeather, MarchionessBlueVelvet (Yeah, they are such different people, that it makes writing the two perspectives a really fun exercise, if only because Madara's perpetually confused and hurt sometimes, and Kanae is perpetually perceptive, and confused sometimes.) and angelacorus (Why should Mito suffer? I'm a bit confused on this point.) for reviewing!

And everyone else who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	7. The Seamstress

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"Well, I fixed you up

When they said you were past repair,

And I stitched you up,

I thread a needle with my hair."

-Dessa, _Seamstress_

* * *

Taiko-kun comes back, and he shows her around Konoha with deference, almost as if he really does expect her to be some sort of demoness. "And, Kanae-hime, these are the training grounds that I frequent, and on that street is the teahouse that Madara-sama likes to visit sometimes."

"Taiko-kun, there's no need for you to be afraid of me." She wraps an arm around the boy's shoulder, and now they walk together. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You married Madara-sama." He says, and squirms a bit, so she lets him go. "He is very strong, but he bends for you."

She smiles. "Compromise is a sign of strength, Taiko-kun." They've paused now, outside of one of the many restaurants of the... _the Akimichi, I believe it was._ There are many different clans inside Konoha that she has not heard of before. "We end up alone if we insist on doing everything our own way."

The boy blinks, and rubs the back of his neck with a hand. "I've just never seen Madara-sama so...before."

"Hmmm?" She considers stepping in. They say that the Akimichi are fantastic cooks. "What was Madara-sama like before?" Surely other people saw how tired he was, how much he struggled against a current that was always pulling him away, like the tide peeling away before a tsunami.

No man could truly fight that alone. No man would ever really be able to challenge a storm.

"Cold." Taiko-kun tells her. "Very serious. Angry." He looks away. "I'm sorry, it's wrong of me to say so."

She pinches his cheek. "Smile. You told me nothing wrong." And if the children of the Uchiha Clan, of which Taiko-kun would be representative, thought this of Madara-sama, how was he perceived otherwise?

 _Did no one ever see his pain? Is he really that scary?_ She hadn't thought so when she met him, but perhaps her definition of scary is unusually lax.

She decides that they can afford to step into the restaurant. There are whispers rising like clouds on the river when she takes the first step.

"Oh you poor dear!" A group of women surround her immediately and she follows them, because really, any conversation that begins like this ought to end terribly, but she has to try.

If she just leaves them alone, they'll think her arrogant and stubborn.

She is used to being loved, to being beloved and adored by her people.

Konoha has to be her home now, because she can never return to Uzu for more than a visit. She will have to make herself adored and beloved here, and she cannot do that if she is perceived as arrogant and prideful.

"I can't imagine what being married to such an awful man would be like." This chatter makes her somewhat sick.

"Madara-sama is not awful." She says, and wonders how they could see him so differently than she does. How they do not see a man in desperate need of warmth and light? How they could shut their doors and not let him in? "He is fond of me." She can safely say that.

She's done what she can to make his life easier, done what she can. It is not enough yet, to make him happy by any means, but it makes him less tired, less sad. And perhaps he is fond of her.

It's only that she is writing characters in the sand at low tide. Everything falls apart as soon as Madara-sama meets Tobirama, or a long day.

"Oh but he glares and frowns and-" The women protest.

They are silly things, silly unobservant things that don't deserve to be enlightened. Even the children of Uzu could see that he was tired, not that he was necessarily terrible.

"So just because he doesn't smile," And Kanae smiles, because she has a beautiful smile, and when she plays the timing of the glamour just right, it hits like the sunrise. "He isn't nice?"

They sit dumbfounded for a moment, but one particularly nasty one finds a voice. "They say he stole his brother's eyes, and-" A giggle. "You should be careful, maybe he'll want your eyes next."

Her grip tightens on her teacup, and again in her mind's eye, she sees Izuna-san rocking back and forth that night, his quiet admission that he had no desire to watch as his brother descended into a world without color or light. How they'd perverted Izuna-san's sacrifice into Madara-sama's non-existent avarice turns her stomach. "You know nothing." She hisses, and the entire restaurant falls silent. "None of you know anything about me or mine." She rises, and collects Taiko-kun, who is still standing by the door. "I don't need your pity, and I don't need your concern." She turns on her heel and storms out. "All of you are no more than paper-people."

To be paper is the worst insult that she can think of.

Paper crumples away with the lightest touch of water. Paper is soft, and weak, and easily stained.

Water may be soft, but water wears down mountains and screams its fury to the skies. To be water is to be expansive, to be both life and death and everything in between.

Of all the things that the earth may hold, water is the only one that endures.

"Kanae-hime." Taiko-kun tugs at her sleeve. "Kanae-hime, your hair is sparking again."

She runs a hand over the ends, and finds that yes, there are sparks. Yes, she is angry. "You said there was a river?" She asks the boy, because he is a boy really, and she ought not ask him to bear the force of her anger.

He smiles happily, and takes her hand.

They go down to the river.

She doesn't step foot into any Akimichi restaurant again.

* * *

"Are you ever lonely?" She asks Izuna-san. He sits with her quite frequently, as she finishes various household tasks.

"I have Niisan." He says, and something about him seems to be terribly sad. "I have you, Kanae-neesan, and people come to visit sometimes."

She knows exactly why he doesn't often go outside. The things that people whisper, how badly they've twisted his love for his brother, must break his heart.

"Come with me to the river." Yet, nevertheless, the bad rumors persist precisely because he isn't seen outside very often. "I can play you a song there."

He smiles at her, and there is something crumpling inside him.

She remembers that every time she sees Madara-sama's eyes light up, or glaze over, or anything at all, that she's really seeing his.

"I don't think so, Kanae-neesan. I'm fine as I am right now."

If she tells him that it's to better Madara-sama's reputation, he'd tear himself to pieces in a heartbeat. _That's the price we pay for being younger siblings isn't it?_

She will have to think a little more, about this, about all of this, and how to fix this. "Can you tell me about Madara-sama?"

And he laughs. "Don't you know enough about Niisan to confound him everytime he turns around, Neesan?"

No one has ever called her Neesan before. She's always been Shiko-chan, Little Storm, but now a man five years her senior calls her Neesan. "But I don't know his favorite foods, or what he liked to do, or what his childhood was like."

"Niisan loves inarizushi, and he secretly loves to draw." Izuna-san sighs, and sets his teacup down. "Our childhood wasn't much of anything to talk about."

"I forgot." She says, and draws another design for protection on the floor. It is still not the right one. She won't forget again to never mention it.

Perhaps she doesn't really want to protect his war fan. Maybe what she really wants to protect is the man. Wrap him up in silk and diminish his sorrows, kiss his scars, sing to him, dance for him, dance with him.

"What did you do in Uzu?" Izuna-san asks, as his hand searches for the teacup, and she slides it over to him reflexively. He pauses for a moment, and she remembers that she shouldn't do that either.

She'll remember that next time, but he doesn't comment specifically on her actions. "I'm glad that Niisan is-is happier now." Izuna-san sighs. "I'd hoped he would be."

"Any woman with a heart would have been enough." She turns the idea over in her mind, and finds it true. "As for what I did in Uzu..." It is hard to think about how she spent her days in Uzu, if only because she has to acknowledge that she left that behind. "I ran the border guard. Neesan and I would organize the festivals. I'd distill poisons, dive for pearls, organize children's games. At night, I would help Chichi manage the accounts, or play the koto for Haha. I would spend my days reading the classics, or writing poetry with Neesan as well."

She'd run missions. She'd commanded men.

And now she is Uchiha Kanae, housewife, devoted to her husband's domestic sphere and comfort. _It takes more to build._ She is not unhappy.

"I'm sorry we took that from you." Izuna-san says, after a quiet moment. "You shouldn't like us so much." _Are all Uchiha men so dramatic, or is it just the two that I live with?_

"Izuna!" She takes him by the shoulders, and shakes him lightly. "You are not allowed to tell me what to do." She flicks his forehead, and heads to the kitchen to start dinner. "It's the job of the elder sibling to tell the younger sibling what to do, isn't it?"

"But I'm older than you." He sounds a little plaintive, a little confused.

"You call me Neesan." She sets a hand on her hip, and shakes her finger at him, but he cannot see it, only hear the disapproval in her voice. "So you have to listen to what I say, and I say that you need to stop thinking that I'm going to wake up one morning and hate everything about my life."

With that, she flounces towards the counter.

And Izuna smiles. "Yes of course, Neesan."

* * *

She's decided that she needs to actually sew the protection seals into Madara-sama's clothes, and she begins right away. It's a good thing that she kept her hair long now, because it is naturally imbibed with chakra.

She threads her whalebone needle with her hair, and starts the process. The kanji for heart, eight points for the eight auspicious symbols, a lotus formation. The character for protection, everything in grass style.

He sits on the other side of the room, reading papers, and fidgeting. It is only a little, but it catches her eye, and- _It's his shoulders._

 _They must be sore from all the time he's spent hunched over._ She sets aside her work for the moment, and makes her way across the room.

She's seen enough to know when he is content, and tonight he seems content. His stiff muscles loosen under her hands, and he leans back, stretching. "You don't have to." He says, even as his eyes slide shut.

 _How could anyone find him gloomy? He is beautiful._

She laughs and tucks a stray lock of hair behind his ear. "Leave it be, Madara-sama. You'll keep fidgeting and being grumpy unless I do." He'd certainly be grumpy if she kept teasing him, but it would be of the amused sort.

"I will not." _You and your little boy ways. Have you ever been a little boy?_

 _Were you ever afforded the luxury? You will have the luxury with me. I will give you that space._

"You will." It is necessary to continue the banter, to lift his fatigue, because he seems to _live_ in those moments, instead of merely exist.

He cracks open an eye, and turns his head so that he can stare at her. "I _won't_."

"Okay." _I have married a cat. If you were from Uzu, we would say that you have the blood of a nekomata._ "You'll be grumpy either way, but you'll stop fidgeting."

He frowns at her. "I am not grumpy."

And she has to giggle, her chin on his shoulder, her arms around his neck. His skin is warm, and his hair tickles her cheek. "Yes, of course, Madara-sama. You are certainly not grumpy." He seems to recognize his own silliness sometimes. "You are fearsomely dark, and everyone trembles under the weight of your fury." It would certainly flatter his ego to be told this. Perhaps other people found him fearsome because that is how he wishes to be thought of.

When he is like this, content and nearly drowsy, he is not fearsome. He is merely a man who shares all the mannerisms of a cat, who is proud and haughty and egoistic, but also so pleasantly fond of being flattered. _He enjoys being touched in more ways than one. Emotionally touched. Physically comforted._

 _He just never asks._

"Yes." He says, and picks up another sheet of paper. "That is perfectly acceptable." This is rich, even for him. He didn't even complain that she is obviously humoring him.

She laughs harder. "You're a cat, Madara-sama." She whispers, aloud, and he shakes with laughter. It is rich and deep and it takes a minute for it to subside.

He pokes her cheek with a finger, and hisses in mock disgust. "Move your head. You are ruining your efforts."

His heartbeat slows to a lazy halftime under her hand. His finger is still prodding her cheek.

She turns her head lazily, and lunges for his finger with her teeth.

They clack shut on empty air. "Don't bait me, Madara-sama."

"I want to keep my fingers." He tells her, but he's retreating once more. "Do you mind?"

She doesn't know what he means. "Mind that you keep your fingers?" She shifts so that she is a little further from him. "I mean, you probably should. I'm not a cannibal, and I wouldn't know what to do with an eleventh finger."

"No." He says, and sets his papers down. "That I don't love you."

"No." She shrugs, and lets go. "It really doesn't bother me, Madara-sama." She sits down on his desk, and looks him in the eye. There's an edge of pain to them that she dislikes. "Have I made you uncomfortable?" She'd thought he liked it when she clung, liked it when she did things that were comforting, but not necessarily always so, that he liked sweet things, and sweet actions, and that it is what makes him content.

He would never ask for her to hug him, or cradle his cheek, or kiss his temple, or massage his shoulders, but his soul purrs when she does. She sees it in his eyes.

"How do you know what I want?" He sounds pleading, sounds small, and that is really not what she wanted to make him feel.

"I've always known what people want." Her hand plays with the hem of her kimono, and his eyes are drawn to the rhythmic, tapping gesture. There is still no lust to his gaze, merely fascination. "My brothers are older than me, Neesan is giddy, serious, and nervous by turns, Niisama doesn't act like a man even when he tries to be one, Chichi often worries, Obaasan's bones ache in the winter, and Haha is unhappy." She shrugs, but internally, she wonders who is taking care of them now, if they've learned to take care of each other in her absence. "People fall apart when there isn't anyone to take care of them. Growing up..." She sighs. "I took care of them."

"You cared for them because they are your family." This he understands. She nods. "Why care for me?" _So that is what confuses you then._

 _You think that I am strange for caring for you. Do you ever feel yourself entitled to anything, Madara-sama? Any scrap of happiness, any relationship that does not twist or burn?_ _Has this world taught you that you're unworthy?_

"You're my husband." She prods his cheek. He can stand to be reminded. "I am supposed to cook your dinner, and massage your shoulders, and make your tea, and raise your children, aren't I? Isn't that what Uchiha women do?" He stares at her for a long moment, completely blankly as if he doesn't compute what she's said. She throws up her hands. "Do you want me to be mean to you, Madara-sama? Is that how I'm supposed to make you happy?"

"It would be more comforting." He mutters under his breath. "But this is good too." _So you can admit to some things._

 _Oh, a job well done, Madara-sama._

She pats him on the head, and feels a small twinge of envy. His hair is softer than hers, despite how absolutely fascinated he seems to be with hers. "Just accept my kindness, Madara-sama. It isn't for everyone."

She goes back to stitching the seal over his clothing.

* * *

She's still embroidering the seal onto the collars of Madra-sama's shirts the next morning when Neesan spins into the courtyard, giddy about something. It is good to see Neesan so happy, she decides.

"Kanae!" Neesan takes her by the shoulders, and pulls her into a tight hug. "Oh, Kanae-chan, I've such good news."

And she has Neesan dancing in her courtyard, giddier than on her wedding day.

"What's the news?" She suspects that she knows. It has something to do with family. Neesan would never be so excited otherwise. "Did you finally manage to leash Tobirama?"

She'd be just as ecstatic as Neesan, if she managed to finally put a leash on Senju Tobirama. Maybe he'd finally stop hurting Madara-sama.

"No! Kanae-chan!" Neesan takes her by the hands, and they both spin around. "Don't be silly. It's better than that!" The two of them collapse back onto the wooden porch.

"Well?" Kanae leans forward and smiles impishly. "What's the tide-stopping news?"

"I'm going to be a mother."

The quiet admission catches her completely by surprise, but Kanae sweeps her sister up into a tight hug. "Do I have a nephew or a niece?" Babies are always the haziest phase, she's rarely taken care of babies, being the baby of the family herself, but children and toddlers are the most fun. "And did you tell Hashirama yet?"

"I don't know yet." Neesan giggles breathlessly. "I just found out, and I needed to tell you."

So Neesan hasn't told Hashirama yet either. "Congratulations, Neesan." And a wicked thought strikes her. She has to ask. "What if your child is like the Terrible Twins?"

Neesan freezes. "Never." She hugs her stomach protectively. "I will not let Shiro-kun or Ruta-kun near them until they are grown."

Their laughter bursts from them, waves onto the beach. "Oh, but." Kanae wipes a tear from her eye. "H-how will you make certain that they aren't terrible cheaters at dice and cards?"

"Because-" Neesan pauses, and tries to figure it out. "Because they'll have Hashi-baka's personality, and he is as straight as a tree trunk."

"You mean Hashirama-san is as straight as an Uzu whirlpool." _I did not just say that. I did not just say that to Neesan of all people._ She needs to salvage this situation immediately. "In the mental sense, Neesan. Hashirama-san has such strange dreams."

"Oh that's not true in the slightest." Neesan waves an airily towards the outside. "But enough about me, does Uchiha-sama want children?"

 _Does Madara-sama-well, we've never discussed it before. Perhaps I'll ask._ Kanae shrugs, and picks up the abandoned shirt. "I don't know. We haven't talked about it before."

"I admit I'm curious." Neesan leans over her shoulder, watching her needle flash in an out of dark cloth in the morning sun. "What do you even talk about with him?"

 _What do we talk about? Well, certainly I can't tell Neesan half of it._ "How his day was." She finishes the fifth point, and considers it further. "What frustrates him. What delighted me. Why?" _We also talk about how heavy the guilt weighs on him._

 _The more I care for him, the less he feels comfortable with the idea that he doesn't love me romantically. Everyone can see how well he treats me. But then, no need to burden Neesan with that idea._

"Are you stitching for him?" Neesan's hand reaches out, and smooths out the character for heart. "Kanae-chan, this is your hair."

"Mmm." She pulls the cloth back from Neesan's grip. "He needs it, you know. I don't want him to die." She's seen his scars, so many so close to vital areas. He'll need all the protection that he can get.

"You never cut your hair." Neesan suddenly pulls away. "But you'll use it in your stitching sometimes for Kyoya-niisama. Is Uchiha-sama so important to you?"

Kanae looks over at her, and finds that all of her earlier giddiness is gone, replaced by concern. "Madara-sama is very important to me." And she finds that this is indeed true. Uchiha Madara-sama is important to her.

Neesan seems to want to say something more, but she presses her lips together and turns away.

"Come on now, Neesan. Tell me what you want to tell me. I won't be angry."

Neesan laughs and pinches her cheek. "You'll be offended, Kanae-chan." And Neesan's dark eyes are like stars. "I just need to tell you that you can't save everyone. I know you love Uchiha-sama, but I don't want you to hurt so much." Neesan turns away. "He's like a dying man, but his death is slow. You have such a kind heart, and I don't want to see it burned by him."

So Neesan did see his tiredness, but she's interpreted his fatigue as a slow death. Kanae doesn't accept that. "Neesan." She takes her sister's hand. "You ought to be happy for yourself. There is no need for you to worry over me."

Neesan smiles, and Kanae loves that smile. "I know. You're always the strongest of us."

Uzumaki Kanae might be strong, but she's not the strongest of them all. "That's Niisama." She dives forward, and tickles the concession from Neesan as well.

"Alright! Alright! The strongest is Niisama! Even if he won't approve of you defending his name."

Their laughter rings out over the courtyard.

* * *

Taiko-kun brings a crowd of small children to see her. It's as if they were waiting in the shadows for Neesan to leave, on her way to tell Hashirama.

"Kanae-hime?" He's wringing his hands. "I hope you didn't mind that I brought everyone. You said you were going to tell a story."

She smiles. "No, I'm delighted." She gestures to the porch and the courtyard around her. "Wherever you all want to sit." She sets her stitching aside, and pulls the koto onto her lap. "Introduce yourselves?"

"Um...Momo, Uchiha Momo!" A little girl leans forward. "What are your hairpins made of?" She slaps a hand over her mouth soon after. "I'm sorry, Ka-Kanae-hime!"

"They're whalebone." She tells the girl. "And don't worry, you can ask me whatever you'd like."

"A whale?" Another little girl frowns. "Are those like big fish?"

"Rei-chan, don't be silly, fish aren't big."

"Aniki!" Oh, so those children were brother and sister then. Rei-chan and her elder brother.

She has to laugh. Maybe for these forest children, whales are no more than big fish. "The whales are bigger than houses." She tells them, and their eyes grow wide.

"Bigger than houses?" Taiko-kun taps his fingers against his knee, his head propped up on his other hand. "But there aren't fish bigger than houses."

They seem so confused. _For them, the sea might as well be the moon._ "They are, but they have many uses." She stretches her arms out before her, her shoulder muscles had gotten too bunched up during her work. "My brothers are whalers, whale-hunters on their ship." The Terrible Twins call their ship the Whirlpool Queen in honor of Haha. "But enough about whales, was there a story anyone wanted to listen to?"

"A new one!" A girl calls.

"Yes!" They all agree. "We want to hear a new story."

 _What sort of stories do they know?_ She doesn't know what sorts of legends they listen to. _I'll sing them the song of Ishiro and Kanae's daughter, Shinju, then._

"There once was a King, and they called him the king of the sea, and his name was Ishiro." There is a small collective gasp, and several whispers, though those are quickly shushed. "And he married a beautiful woman, a youkai princess whom everyone called Kanae of the deeps." She takes a deep breath, and strums her fingers along the strings. "But this isn't a story about them." The Legend of Ishiro and Kanae hits too close to the bone at the moment. "Instead, this is the story of the daughter that they had, her name was Shinju-hime."

"Can we hear about the King and the Queen?" Momo-chan asks. "I want to know if they loved each other."

"That is a very sad sort of story, Momo-chan." Kanae wets her lips, and continues. "Shinju-hime was very beautiful, and there were suitors that came for her hand from distant lands, including a rival king. Now her father was king of the sea, and this Rival King was the ruler of the Black Cliffs, and legend said that his heart was as black as the cliffs he ruled. Yet, he presented a suit that made it hard for him to be refused with grace."

Madara-sama appears in the gateway of the courtyard. His shoulders are slumped, and there is a wild light in his eyes.

"But the king loved his daughter very much. He had no desire to give her away to his rival king, so he devised a stratagem to keep her." She pauses, and looks up at him. _Was he there when Neesan said something to Hashirama or was it something else?_

"What happens next, Kanae-hime?" It's Momo-chan.

Kanae rises, and dusts off her kimono with a smile. "Perhaps tomorrow, everyone." There seems to be a storm brewing, and she doesn't want these children to see their clan head fall apart.

She doubts he'd shout and scream and break things, but he looks ready to crumple, and when he is himself again, it would hurt him to know that someone else had seen the sight. Especially the children who thought him invincible.

There are protests, but some of them notice Madara-sama, and shush the others quickly. "It's Madara-sama. We aren't supposed to be here." _Does he not like children? Curse Neesan for putting the idea in my head._

All of them clear out quickly, bowing to him as they pass.

He doesn't acknowledge them, not even a little bit. He stands there for a moment longer, and then stumbles past her without a word. She lets him go.

* * *

He's taken all of the sake jugs out of his cabinets, and sits there, drinking. His shoulders heave, but he doesn't cry.

It might be better if he cried. She lets him be, until it is quite clear that he shows no signs of stopping, even after getting drunk. It seems he has to either run out of sake, or he needs to kill himself. Whichever came first.

A cup slips from his hand, and shatters on the floor.

 _Enough is enough. You are not drinking yourself into an early grave before you even attempt to tell me what's wrong._

She takes the second cup in the set away from him.

He searches for it, blearily, achingly, and she keeps it away from him.

He tilts his head up to look at her, and his eyes are unfocused. He sways. "Give me my cup, Kanae." She can barely make out the words, so slurred together they are.

 _Kami. He's this bad already?_ When he'd been sitting alone, he'd seemed better than this. "I think you've had enough, Madara-sama." She tells him, and he attempts to reach for the cup anyway.

"Give me my cup, Kanae." This attempt at speech is no clearer than the first. "You're supposed to be taking care of me or something-." She has no idea what he says after that, only that it has something to do with Uchiha.

She is not an Uchiha no matter how much she pretends. You can dress a storm up like a person, but it will still be a storm. A youkai may act and speak like a man, but he would still be a youkai. She was born Uzumaki Kanae; she'll be Uzumaki Kanae until she dies.

She picks up the last jug of sake. It sloshes slightly, half empty. He has consumed enough to poison him, given half the chance. She walks over to her kitchen cabinets, and pulls out the small black lacquer box she'd brought with her when she'd left Uzu.

 _Sleepsong. That is what he needs._ She uncorks one of the bottles, and takes a pinch of the gray powder. Then, she fills the cup with water, and brings it back to him.

 _I shouldn't feel guilty about this._

 _If I don't force him to stop, he'll honestly drink himself to death._

 _I am not hurting him._

Still, she has to distract herself with a question as she offers him the cup. "You heard the news then, Madara-sama?'

He brings the cup to his lips, and the muscles in his throat convulse as they swallow."This isn't what I asked for." His glare cuts her open.

 _I'm sorry, Madara-sama, but I don't want you to die._ "It is that cup that you asked for." Semantics, her words are hollow. He asked for the cup because he wanted sake. She'd promised him, and broken her word.

His eyes slide shut.

* * *

He speaks in his sleep, which he doesn't do on normal nights, even if he may toss and turn. Somehow, the things he says are worse than if he'd said them when he was drunk.

"Hashirama...don't...you fool." When he is awake, he would say this phrase with derision, with scorn, but in this half induced state, it is more like a plea.

She doesn't like to hear him beg.

"What makes...better..." And this pain is not one that she can take from him. "Why...your choice...Konoha...Hokage..."

His skin is feverish, and clammy, and it feels as though there is a fire under his skin burning everything it touches.

She reminds herself that she ought never use Sleepsong on him again. He doesn't seem to react well to it.

An hour in, he slips into actual sleep. Another hour, and he wakes again.

The look on his face is as bleak as the surface of the sea in winter.

"You're awake again." _Do you remember what you said?_

"What did you do to me?" He speaks as though his tongue is heavy, or as if through water.

 _Make that a really bad reaction to Sleepsong. This is worse than most men, and the dosage I gave you was lighter than most._

"A sleeping agent." She smooths the cloth over his head, and realizes that it is no longer quite damp enough. "You were about to give yourself alcohol poisoning." She exchanges the cloth for another.

"I thought you said that you wouldn't poison me." _I did._

Her hands shake, and she sets them in her lap to hide them. "I didn't want you to die. You can be cross with me later."

Sometimes she does things before thinking them through, and it shows, it shows now, too much, too much. She'd done too much, he didn't _want it._

He laughs, and it sounds like a drowning man's gasps for air, a note of hysteria mixed in with jaded cynicism. "If I kill myself, it isn't your responsibility."

That is true in some sense, but-"I told your parents that you'd want nothing I cannot give you." She changes the cloth on his forehead. "This isn't just about Neesan's announcement is it?" She doesn't think he'd fall apart for something like a child.

"You knew?" So the child is a part of it then.

"She is my sister. She'd tell me first, of all of her family members." Neesan had been so happy when she'd been here this morning. Kanae doesn't think that she knows what her words have done to Madara-sama. If she did, perhaps she'd be less inclined to think that Madara-sama is dark and unforgivable. "Madara-sama, what are you really upset about?" She rubs his hands between hers, and hopes that he knows how cold he is.

It is spring, but he is cold, like a corpse in winter.

"Hokage." And there it is again, that word. Fire Shadow. From what she understands of his Katon Jutsu work, he is the one who sparks flames, their creator not their shadow, but it seems to mean something more to him. "I will not be Hokage."

"What is Hokage, Madara-sama?"

She asks, but she asks too late. His eyes are sliding closed once more.

This time, he does not talk.

* * *

 **A.N.** Kanae is...confronted by outside social troubles, which she has never had to deal with before, and isn't sure how to. That and Kanae and Mito have a moment together.

You all don't seem to mind the lag very much, so I'll try to keep updating Sunfall and Moonrise sort of simultaneously. I do kind of want to get them on the same page sooner or later though, because switching timelines while writing is a little weird.

Thank you so much to LittleMissSugarLess, stubs1101 (I won't stop writing until the impression of Madara leaves my head, which at the present moment, seems like never.), Scarease, TheSilenceIsVast (Yeah, Kanae does that sometimes. I'm kind of interested in that too, to be honest, so expect that to show up at unexpected times as well.), angelacorus (Oh no, there's no need to be sorry. I just wanted to make sure that I was understanding the reviews.), bunnyguest (Her hair sparked. She grabbed them both by the ear and stormed back to her house. The hair octopus made an appearance, but she doesn't think all that was particularly interesting.), and Guest (Madara teeters on accepting her casual gestures of affection, and running away from them to a corner and hyperventilating. It is a process.) for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	8. Beloved Guest

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

The darkness takes him over,

The sickness pulls him in;

His eyes-a blown out candle

I wish to go with him.

Sometimes I see a flicker

A light that shone from them;

I hold him to me tightly,

Before he's gone again.

-Lang Leav, _Saving You_

* * *

She decides that Hokage, whatever the term really means to Madara-sama, hurts him deeply. Thus, it would be much easier to not speak of the word at all to him. She should forget all about it. Yet still, the concept plagues her as she finishes dinner preparations, and goes to seek out Izuna to remind him that dinner is ready.

Sometimes, he forgets.

Sometimes, the coolness of the evening reminds him of the morning. He does not keep regular hours much at all. Sometimes, Kanae wonders how exactly he and Madara-sama had survived before her. Madara-sama despises mornings, and Izuna doesn't keep time.

"Izuna-kun?" She finds him on the porch, his face turned toward the sun.

For all of Madara-sama's storminess, Izuna is always serene. There is an acceptance that is not resignation to Uchiha Izuna. His strength is not overt, not brash, or flashy, but it is the kind that wears down mountains.

He is as enduring as the yellow dust blowing in the wind.

"Neesan?" He rises to his feet, and moves in the direction of her voice with unerring accuracy. "How is Niisan?"

So he'd heard then, of Madara-sama's unfortunate episode of drunkenness.

"He is asleep." She should have expected him to have heard. Izuna always knows what is going on inside the house, and he reads his elder brother on most matters like a needle pointing north. The only thing that he never seems to allude to is Madara-sama's love for Senju Hashirama, but perhaps he knows about that too and just doesn't wish to speak to her about it.

It would be...awkward.

"He is being unfair to you, is what he's being." He grouses as they head into the house, his hand on her arm. "Niisan is always going to be block-headed."

And they are just so similar that she has to giggle. _How could they not be brothers in any life? That expression is the exact same as Madara-sama's._ "Izuna-kun." And suddenly she is struck by how melancholy he seems through his serenity. "What do you do, most days?"

She had breakfast with him. Sometimes he'd follow her about the house, and they'd talk, but for the most part-Uchiha Izuna seems to float through life, quiet, unassuming, background. She does not want him to be background, but he is frightfully good at making himself invisible. Sometimes she forgets him, and she does not like the idea that she'd forget one of her brothers even if it is only for half an hour.

"Not particularly much." He huffs. "Niisan thinks that I will be irreparably damaged should I take any sort of trip."

 _It grates on you then._ Izuna is twenty-two. Five years her senior, and yet, his freedom seems to be limited to that of the house, where he knows the placement of every object, and Madara-sama can trust him not to get anything more than a scraped knee.

"But you came to Uzu." _It seems strange, that for a brother as overprotective as Madara-sama to let him travel to a foreign country, but not beyond his own doorstep._

"We had a fight about it." Izuna sighs, and she slides the door open. "I had to guilt and threaten him, and even then, I won only because he was afraid of what the Senju might do to me in his absence."

"But he is good friends with Hashirama-san." He'd built a city with Senju Hashirama. He loves Senju Hashirama. It is unconscionably strange to her, that he could love someone, but not trust them with the life of his own brother.

"And Senju Tobirama nearly killed him." Izuna frowns, and runs his hand down the table, until he finds the bowl of rice, and the chopsticks that she'd set out for him. "I wouldn't trust them either."

The revelation cuts her further. Senju Tobirama nearly killed her husband. One of those scars that she'd traced belonged to the sword or kunai of Senju Tobirama.

That there is even a village at all seems to defy all logic.

"I see." She slides a bowl of soup over to Izuna, who sits across from her, and tries to keep her voice light. _I have revised my plans. I will take everything that Senju Tobirama finds joy in, and then kill him._ She cannot do that.

Senju Tobirama finds joy in his elder brother. Hashirama-san cannot be killed because then Neesan would be sad. She considers her options. _I will have to learn what it is that he wants most. He can live a life in misery_.

"Izuna-kun?"

"Hmm?" The man opposite her sets his soup spoon down.

"What is Hokage?" _And why does Madara-sama want it so much?_

"It is the leader of this village." Izuna sounds-a little sardonic-his mouth twisted in a wry smile. "And that is to be decided by a vote among the villagers."

She considers what she knows of Konoha, and how Madara-sama feels about the village. The idea of Hokage creates more questions than it answers. _Why does he want to lead a village that only gives him pain?_

It is not as if this place gives him much happiness. But it is what he wants, so she will do her best to aid him somehow. She knows quite well, that given a vote at the moment, Madara-sama would certainly _not_ become Hokage. She also knows that he certainly knows this, but does not accept it half as well as he thinks he does.

She is resigned to see him break again when the title goes to Senju Hashirama.

The heart does not want rational things after all.

* * *

She has finished several shirts now, and she has gotten fascinatingly good at the chakra imbibing process. Soon, she will have worked through all of Madara-sama's wardrobe, and she will feel much better whenever he leaves the house.

It may only be into the village and not outside of it, and certainly he can take care of himself, but she would rather not risk it.

Madara-sama is not a morning person, and given no incentive to awaken, he will sleep until noon. On the days that he has no urgent meetings, she is careful to allow him his indulgences.

For the most part, it does not seem that he has many. He does not smoke, and ever since the one day he'd nearly killed himself, he does not drink. He does not visit houses of ill repute, though, she allows that this is perhaps because of Senju Hashirama more than his current marital status.

He allows himself fairly few luxuries, so she is careful not to wake him.

It is unfortunate, then, that Hashirama decides he really must enter the house early one morning.

"Mada!" He is very loud. She doesn't know why he needs to be so loud. For all the time that she has known him, he has been boisterously loud, which is the exact opposite of Neesan on most days.

"Madara-sama's busy." It is likely that Madara-sama has been awakened by Hashirama already, but she knows he would hardly like to have his current indulgence be laid bare to the public. Thus, he is busy, and will see Hashirama at a later, more reasonable hour.

"But Kanae- _chan..._ he's supposed to be working with me!" Hashirama leans forward, and pats her shoulder with a hand, wide brown eyes in some semblance of exaggerated concern."Is he sick? Oh my Kami, is he dying? I have to see him!"

She is not entirely sure that such a man like Senju Hashirama ought logically exist in the world. If Madara-sama survived war with a heart covered in scars and permanent fatigue, there is no way that Senju Hashirama ought to have survived by just being stupid.

Therefore he must not be stupid. _But he wears this mask so well it is easy to believe it._

"No, Hashirama-san, he is not dying. He's just busy." She'll give him every impression that she believes it then. It is only fair. But she will never believe it.

"But he never avoids seeing me!" _Perhaps that is because he loves you, and therefore allows you far more than any other._ "There is no situation where Madara is too busy to see me! He has to talk to me. I'm about to go out of my mind, and oh Kami, I'm going to be a father, and what am I going to do? How do I cope? I can't even raise a piglet, how do I raise a child?" His voice rises in pitch and volume.

It really does seem like Hashirama is having a mental breakdown. What she recognizes though, is that Senju Hashirama is fundamentally _selfish._

Who else would claim that there is no situation where a friend would be too busy to see him?

Kanae is halfway certain that Madara-sama has never denied him anything, and Hashirama believes that he never will be denied.

She is not sure she likes what that means about Neesan's relationship with the man.

"Hashirama-san, I'm sure you won't kill your child." _Doubtful, but Neesan surely has better sense-oh, who am I kidding? Neesan married him. It's official. Neesan has no sense whatsoever when it comes to my dear brother-in-law._

"You sound so certain, Kanae-chan." And now he sounds depressed. That would not do in the slightest.

The Uchiha Clan is full of gossips, not the least of which included Taiko-kun, who spread rumors about everything from her beauty to how Madara-sama is going soft. That the Senju Clan head is worried about killing his own child by accident isn't exactly something that needs to be told over and over. She'd rather not have her nephew or niece killed accidentally, even in stories.

"Hashirama-san, Madara-sama isn't going to be much help. He doesn't know what to do with children either." The clan children are much friendlier to him these days, because they have ascertained that he will not eat them even if he glares and hns and crosses his arms.

That such a thing crossed their minds means that Madara-sama is by no means good with small children, and therefore would be of no help to Hashirama.

"But why won't he even come to talk to me? Is he angry with me again? What did I do to make him angry?" If at all possible, the man before her becomes even more depressed.

"Why are you standing outside of Madra-sama's house shrieking like a teenage girl being denied the object of her admirations?" He sounds worse than Chihaya-chan mooning over Niisama, privately of course, because Chihaya-chan acknowledges that Niisama doesn't care for most people. "You'll wake him up at this rate."

"He's asleep?" And now finally Hashirama is serious. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I'll wait for him to wake up."

It seems that she would have to wake Madara-sama after all.

She heads back in.

She wants to pause and giggle at the sight of him in the morning light. _He has the pillow over his head._ But he wouldn't appreciate her amusement, especially not so early, so she does not."Madara-sama? Hashirama-san is here to see you. Did you want to see him?"

He rolls over. "Hn." This hn means not particularly. Unfortunately she does not think that Hashirama will wait. Madara-sama should know this very well.

"I'll armor you then? If you manage to roll out of bed that is." She has to hide a laugh. He looks so disgruntled, like a schoolboy being told that he must not be late.

It is funny seeing a grown man, who is by all other accounts fully functional, in such a state.

"I can get out of bed." He mutters, as he climbs to his feet, steady and nimble as a cat that at the moment, he chooses to be. "And I most certainly do not roll."

She erases her scratches from his back, with a careful attention to detail. It would not do to let others see it, because it is one thing for the clan to joke that Madara-sama bows to his wife, it is another entirely for the village to see him wearing injuries that make their bed look like a battlefield.

"You shouldn't let me keep doing this to you, Madara-sama." She can only imagine the rumors then. Would they think him weak? Would they think he treats her unfairly, and that she must defend herself? They do come up with the strangest of stories, that even acts of love may be perversions. Not, that this is an act of love. _You fool no one, granddaughter. You love him._ "Even if you seem to find it fun at the time, you could be called to battle at any time, no?"

That and she worries, worries that they would be a problem in more ways than to his reputation.

"They wouldn't hinder me." He mutters, as he throws on a haori, and leans over to lace his shoes. "And you get rid of them in the morning anyway."

He sounds like he rather wishes that she didn't, as if he likes these injuries, and she can't quite wrap her mind around it.

Strange that a man who cares so much for pride, would abandon it so readily.

She hums mindlessly as she leans up to pull his hair out from under his breastplate. "Is there a reason you keep your hair long?" Izuna did not, and a few other Uchiha did, but she assumes that it is for personal reasons.

"Pride." He tells her, and he somehow manages to sound smug about it like he is commenting on how terribly wonderful his hair is.

She laughs. "So it is like Niisama's braid then." She adjusts his shoulder guards, and steps back. "He wears the braid past his hips because it suits his pride." She takes the comb from the dresser next to them, and works through a few of the tangles he'd acquired during the night. He leans back, eyes half-lidded, preening. "Then, the Tori people of the Mountains of the Moon only cut their hair when they lose." She is thinking of Niisama a little more today.

Normally she spares few thoughts for him over the course of the day, and only at night does she wonder if perhaps she should have written a letter for the Terrible Twins to give to him, should they be able to find him.

"He doesn't lose then?" Madara-sama sounds interested. Perhaps he should be dissuaded from challenging Niisama to a spar.

Niisama doesn't understand the concept of sparring particularly well.

"Niisama has never lost." She says, mind turning to the conflicts in the western mountains. There were rebels out there, challenging Niisama's right to rule. "And he won't lose now."

Niisama may be hanyou to their full-blooded youkai, but he is strong and fierce, and she does not think that he will lose, cannot imagine a world where he is not undefeated.

"Hn." Madara turns. "The Uchiha have no such rules."

She blinks. "I know they don't. I do speak to your clansmen, you know."

Sometimes, he says the strangest things.

"They call you Kanae-hime." A pause stretches between them as she tries to decipher what he means by this question. "Why?" He prompts after a moment or so of silence.

She prods his cheek with a finger. "Because I am the wife of a fearsome and dark warrior of great renown." He raises an eyebrow at this, as if he is trying to tell her that idle flattery doesn't get her anywhere. He would not appreciate it, but she laughs anyway. _He is so funny, and so expressive._ "Madara-sama!" He slings her over his shoulder quite unexpectedly and spins her around the room, until she can do nothing but laugh.

"Mmmm." Hashirama hums from the door. "You have a nice laugh, Kanae-chan."

Madara-sama freezes like he's been doused with in sea in winter. "Why did you disturb me at an ungodly hour of the morning?" He speaks brusquely, but he doesn't mean it. "Also, why are you wandering around in my house?"

"Because...Mada..." Hashirama drags out each of the syllables as though he is no older than a pouting child. Strangely enough, she does not find this particularly amusing. "Ineedyoutotellmewhattodowithmylife. IamaboutogoinsaneandIhavenoideawhattodowithmyself."

Kanae is not entirely sure that she knows what he's saying, but Madara-sama seems to have a good idea. "Then do nothing and go insane." Madara-sama crosses his arms over his chest, and levels a fierce glare in Hashirama's direction. "I can't believe you woke me up to ask me about this."

"Kanae-chan!" Hashirama wails. "Look at how mean he is to me." He leans forward to sob on her shoulder. She wonders why exactly he thinks she'll be of any help to him. "I'm going to kill your nephew because I don't know the first thing about babies and it will be terrible, and then Mito is going to kill me and I'll be dead and buried and I don't even think Mada will come to my funeral."

She takes a deep breath, and counts to ten. She ought not harm him unduly even if he seems to grate through every one of her nerves. "Hashirama-san, have you had breakfast yet?" She pushes him away.

He brightens unbearably quickly. "No, I haven't."

"Then you might want to eat breakfast here." She adjusts Hashirama's collar so that it is no longer haphazard, straightens the shoulders of his haori, and brushes a few motes of dust off of the front, and wonders for perhaps the millionth time, what Neesan sees in him particularly. "Neesan might find your natural state of disheveled cute, Hashirama-san, but I don't. You're a grown man, Hashirama-san, act like it."

If he is going to eat breakfast here, then she will have to get more food ready.

The last thing she hears is Hashirama's uncomfortable whisper "Your wife is scary, Mada."

She does not wait for a response.

* * *

She leaves Madara-sama and her sister's husband to talk about whatever they are supposed to be talking about in the kitchen, and returns to her sewing on the porch.

"Kanae-hime?" It's Setsuna-san, who insists on being called merely Setsuna by his clan head's wife.

"Yes, Setsuna?" She does her best to call him what he wants to be called. If this is the respect he wishes to show, then woe betide her to not let him show it.

He is after all, quite a serious and devotedly loyal man.

He offers her a single sheet of paper folded into quadrants. "A child from the village gave this to me. It's addressed to you."

Her heart thuds in her chest. That bold, black ink calligraphy of her name is unmistakable. No one else would ever write so beautifully, no one ever has, and no one ever will again. "Did the child leave already? Did they say who'd given this to them?" _How far away is he?_

Setsuna-san frowns. "No. Is it dangerous?" He looks like he almost regrets giving her the sheet now. "Because don't worry, we'll never let anything happen to you. Madara-sama wouldn't stand for it."

She almost laughs. Madara-sama would be able to do absolutely nothing to Niisama, and the very idea that she has to be protected from Niisama is so alien that it might as well have dropped from the moon. "No, no, of course not Setsuna." He does not seem convinced, so she opens the silky sheet and shows him the single character written in the center. "Niisama is just telling me that he is coming to visit, that's all."

He'd written 'home.' She should expect his homecoming, today, if she is being told so in the morning.

Setsuna-san does not seem entirely at ease. "I should tell Madara-sama that we should prepare for guests then."

"No." She sets a hand on his arm, and prevents him from going in. Madara-sama and Hashirama ought not be disturbed. "It is alright, I do not believe that Niisama will stay long." Niisama never really does, and he is two months ahead of the wind this time.

He will not stay long at all, perhaps for dinner, nothing more.

"Why isn't he here yet?" Setsuna-san peers about, as if expecting Niisama to jump out of the bushes. "If he is your brother, why is he sending you single word notes and expecting you to interpret them instead of coming to see you himself?"

"I don't think he's in the city yet." The child is either not a child but instead one of of Ilya-atawa no Sumire's people, or the child was merely a child promised sweets. Either way, Niisama should still be a few hours away from the city especially if he is attempting not to disrupt all of human civilization with wings that could block out the sun. Or he is playing music for a teahouse in the village. It is hard to tell with Niisama. "He sends advance notice of his visits quite often, even at sea."

Niisama sends advanced notice, especially when he makes an unscheduled visit.

And he'd written 'home' which may be a symbol of his irritation. Not that he'd be irritated that she's gotten married, given that he doesn't really understand the concept much at all, despite years and years of seeing his own father married.

His mother's people don't believe much in the concept, or the idea of bastards, simply because all children are treasured whether or not their parents were serious life partners or not. There are no such things as bastards among the Tori people.

The word rolls off of his skin like water should anyone choose to use it. Most words do.

There are few children in the Wing City, or so Niisama has always said, and they are always treasured.

She half suspects that he is irritated only because she has forced him to change his habits, and he dislikes deviating from them for anything less than the sky falling on his head. He might not even do it then. He'd likely decide to fight the sky for insulting him, and win.

Or perhaps he has simply missed her too dearly, and decided that this month would be better for a visit. She has no idea.

"What exactly is your honored brother, Kanae-hime?" Setsuna-san looks...concerned.

She has been staring off into space for a while now, she admits. It might be worrying. "He is a hanyou of great renown." She tells him, quite seriously because it is true. "And my eldest brother, so if you see him please treat him with great respect."

It is unlike Niisama to take casual offense to be called untoward names, or being rudely assaulted since he actually quite enjoys fighting, but he does tend to forget in the heat of the moment, that chopping the hands off of a human, along with other maiming injuries, is rather...permanent. That they do not, as he assumes when he forgets himself, grow back.

He forgets largely because chopping off _his_ hands would be no more than a mild annoyance, taking a few years to regrow, but hardly permanently disfiguring.

"And please, on no account, challenge him to any sort of fight." Niisama has been taught that the men and women of Uzu do not grow their limbs back, but she can't entirely trust him not to forget again, since this is not Uzu.

That and most people take offense to being handless.

The back door slams, and Madara-sama is seen hurrying down the dusty road with his gunbai in tow. Setsuna-san sighs. "I will tell everyone that should they see a strange man in the district today, to not challenge him to a fight."

"That would be greatly appreciated, Setsuna." She smiles and him, and considers going after Madara-sama. It would be pointless, she decides.

It seems that he is in a rage, and Hashirama provoked him to it. She will wait for the flames to cool.

* * *

Hashirama takes his leave apologetically, stating something or other about building plans and grain shipments. She doesn't really believe him, but she lets him go, because Neesan wouldn't like it if she damaged him.

Two hours later, shamisen music floats through the city like a spring dream. It is a faint sound in the beginning, but she hears it anyway.

Niisama is here.

She rises to bring the tea set she'd prepared out. Niisama has travelled a long way, and he happens to like tea. Maybe she still holds out hope that she can appease him if he really is irritated. She arranges the tea set on a tray beside her, and sits back down to wait.

The music is louder now, closer, although it still has all the haunting qualities of all of Niisama's music.

She keeps on with her sewing.

The door blows open, without a hand touching it, and Niisama strides in, his feet barely touching the ground. Even in his human form, Niisama keeps his avian lightness, and moves as though he is flying.

She doesn't raise her head, but the music shifts into a discernible tune. _Love Song of the West Sea. He's here because he's missed me then._

"Ever since you left, I've forgotten what warmth felt like, lost love, waiting on the long road down the mountain, listening to the wind blow." This was her favorite song, back when she'd been twelve or so, sitting by the sea, waiting for Niisama to come home.

He'd sang it for her quite often, and played it on any instrument anyone would be willing to lend to him.

He sings for her now. "I cannot see the edge of the night. The wind cuts me like knives. I will not see the west sea return to blue. Cannot see the sea from the skies." And then he waits for her to respond.

"Love Song of the West Sea." She bows to him. "The musician is very talented." He preens, but it's only a little bit of a light in his eyes. Behind him, Madara-sama stands in the doorway. Niisama bows to her, and she knows that his mood is good today. He wouldn't bow so easily, especially when there is a stranger to see otherwise. "The musician lives to please the princess." And he is willing to play games as well.

He is a dramatic brother at the best of times, like most of her other brothers. Today is a dramatic day.

"Would the musician like tea for his long road?" She gestures to the tea set beside her, on the low table. She'd set it out for him earlier, back when she thought that he might need to be cajoled into a good mood.

"If the princess is offering, this one will gladly accept." He steps forward, and she allows herself to drink the sight in. He has been away for half a year.

She pours him a cup, and offers it to him with both hands. "You look well." He looks a little thinner, a little more worn than his usual grace and beauty. Border duty has weighed on him then, though he'd sent Chichi letters to the contrary.

But his braid is uncut. He has not lost.

"You have changed your address." So that is what he is irritated with then. She'd made him deviate from his habitual rituals.

"Kanae! Ste-" So Madara-sama has seen Niisama's hands, and decided that he must be dangerous. The concern is touching.

Niisama turns, and Madara-sama freezes, like a rabbit before a fox. _Not exactly._

 _It is as if he is trying to determine if Niisama is a threat._

 _That is not a rabbit._

"And, who might you be?" Niisama is not interested in Madara-sama then. That and he has not realized that this is Uchiha Madara, his own brother-in-law.

She will have to correct that. "Niisama," She murmurs. "That is my husband, and you are not allowed to harm him."

"Oh?" Niisama does not seem convinced. He'd always told her that he'd imagined her partner to be a whale or a blue bassoon or something equally inhuman. Let it be known that Uchiha Madara is very much a man.

"Niisama!" _You will be nice to him. You are not allowed to hurt him._

When he turns back to her, he looks very fond. "Very well, Lovely Girl, I will not harm him. I will allow it." His joy seems to drive away all of the wear on his features. He looks as young as ever, just as much her brother as always. "One hug. No more."

She buries her face in his haori, and breaths in the scent of the sea, of brine and salt that still lingers on him wherever he goes. "You're early, Niisama." The sea air is gone from her own clothing now, even the ones at the very bottom of her pack.

She has missed the smell of salt, but she's missed her eldest brother more.

He runs a clawed hand through her hair, and she tugs his braid once. _You have been winning. You will keep winning._ "You changed your address." He whispers it quietly against her hair, and kisses her temple "And you made yourself terribly difficult to find." There's an edge of displeasure humming beneath the surface. She doubts that she was so hard to find. Not for someone of his means.

 _You have only to fly a little bit further to see me, Niisama. Why else are you frustrated?_

"I meant to write to you, but I didn't know where you would be." She lets go, but reluctantly, because Niisama will hardly tolerate her clinging to him like a limpet and rubbing her face in his clothing so that she can breathe in the scent of salt. He sets his head in her lap, and curls possessively around her feet, a habit as old as time itself. "How did you learn about my marriage?"

"Habiki." She might have suspected that Niisama learned of the news from his closest friend and rival.

But she doesn't want to think of Habiki-san right now. "Madara-sama, come meet my brother." She pokes Niisama, half as good hearted fun, and half as a reminder. "You promised not to harm him."

He sighs. "Yes, I did."

Madara-sama pauses, and she knows that it is not because he is afraid, but because he is trying to understand why Niisama would act the way he does.

He has forgotten then, that Niisama is not a man, and not bound to the shame and sorrow of being one. It doesn't bother Niisama to sit at her feet like a little boy in public, because the Tori people would not find it at all strange for a boy to sit at the feet of his sister, and preen in her presence. Niisama, for all of his thirty-five years, is still very much a child in the eyes of the Tori.

"I will not eat you." Niisama seems to think Madara-sama doesn't move out of fear though, and is trying his best to reassure him. It is just as bad as most of Niisama's reassurances. _I will not eat you is not something that you say to a man to convince him that you are harmless, Niisama._

She attempts to choke back a giggle, but she's sure it still sounds like a snort.

"I didn't think you would." Madara-sama straightens his shoulders and steps forward, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Oh, he is frustrated then.

She will have to watch the exchange carefully.

Niisama laughs, and rises, holding out a hand. "I like you, Fire Breather." There is an attempt at a pleasant smile on his face. It doesn't serve as a good predictor of how likely he is to eat the man in front of him though. When Niisama smiles, he shows more teeth than is polite. "Bloodlust does not freeze you long, and you do not run." She really does have to talk to him about how to talk to proud men.

Most men from Uzu have gotten used to how...odd their eldest prince is, but Madara-sama hasn't.

Madara-sama takes the offered hand with a smile of his own. "She tells me you have never lost." And they are now trying to outdo each other.

She wonders if they'd ever stop.

Niisama laughs, and she knows he is delighted. She doubts he's met a man so interesting to him as Madara-sama in years. "You should not fight me, Fire Breather. I will not take my sister away." And then he does the unthinkable. He baits a dare."You may call me Kyoya."

"Then I am Uchiha Madara, _Kyoya._ " And Madara-sama takes him up on it, and Niisama is more delighted than ever. She can see it in the line of his shoulders, in the twitch of his feathers, the eager set of his smile. Niisama finds her husband absolutely _fascinating._

It is clear that no one is dying today, which means she can afford to go out into the village and make friends with all the children. She'd always been good at winning over children, and to win them over, would be to lead their parents as well. "I'm running out of thread, is there something particular that you want to eat tonight, Madara-sama, Niisama?''

"I am not staying for dinner, Lovely Girl." Her mood falls. _You barely just arrived, but you're leaving again?_ She'd really caused him anxiety then, enough that he would visit her two months before the turn of the wind. "I will see you when the wind turns."

"No, not really." Madara-sama says, still entirely distracted by Niisama's presence.

She takes one last look at Niisama. She does not know exactly when he will return to her. "May the wind under your wings never falter." _Keep safe and be well. Remember that you are both a prince of Uzu and of the Tori. You do not lose._

He bows to her, a hand over his heart. "And may your heart always guide you to the course that is true." _Remember that we are your family. Keep safe and be well, littlest sister._

She nods once, and goes.

* * *

It is late that evening. The room is lit by seals and Madara-sama becomes so relaxed that his eyes are half shut while she washes his hair. "Did Niisama threaten you?" She isn't entirely sure, even though Niisama had seemed so delighted, that he could resist needling her very human husband.

Niisama delights in being as irritating as possible to strangers no matter how he baits them with his given name. For all intents and purposes, he might as well be a magpie, attracted to bright and shiny things.

Madara-sama has the capacity to burn like the sun. She is sure Niisama has taken note, and considered all the possibilities. Including the one where he takes Madara-sama to his mother's city to meet Lady Biwa, or just simply kidnapping him forever like a new and shiny toy.

"Not in so many words." Madara-sama sounds disgruntled. Perhaps he is supposed to be, he does still have his pride after all, and she is quite sure that even if Niisama hasn't really tried to hurt it, that it has been bruised quite a bit.

He sinks down further into the water, and she finishes rinsing everything except the top of his head. "I won't tell you that he wasn't trying to offend you." Knowing Niisama, he could not resist. It would have been too fun for him to say such things. "I mean, he probably was, knowing him."

"The water is too hot." Madara-sama changes the subject. "Why do I feel like I am an ingredient in tomorrow's breakfast?"

She giggles and helps him with the seal. "Madara-sama, no one is going to _eat_ you." _Niisama was trying to assure you, and I don't think you understood._

He sinks further. "Why do you even like him?" And now he sounds annoyed, possessively perhaps.

She considers how to best rinse the top of his head. Perhaps she should just cup some water with her hands and dump it over him? "Because he's Niisama?" It is difficult to describe the childhood that she has spent with Niisama, and how that has shaped both of them. "Because he will eventually get around to doing everything that I ask of him?"

 _Niisama will do anything that I ask. There's no one else in the world who will do that without even asking why._

"He is decidedly discomfiting." Madara-sama is silent for a beat."Hashirama told me, that your sister said-" And she has to pay attention again.

"I love you?" She sighs, and considers screaming. _Neesan, I did not need you to say something to Hashirama and then have Madara-sama be confused again._ But she doesn't think screaming would help. "I knew this was going to come back and hurt me later." She really should have thought it through, but Neesan would hardly have accepted any other version of the events. "I told Neesan that because she wouldn't understand why I am here otherwise."

He stiffens, and suddenly his half asleep and almost jovial mood is gone.

"Madara-sama?" She wants to brush his hair back from his face, wants to look him in the eye, but his fatigue is back.

Heavier and worse than ever.

He sits up. "You can leave. I'll do it myself."

"I don't want to." She really doesn't. She pushes him back down into the water, to where he'd been just moments earlier, and wishes that she can make him as happy as he was then. "Madara-sama, your mind has gone to dark places again." She whispers the next words in his ear. "Tell me about them?"

"They sold you, and now you are obligated." So it is that, again.

It is his guilt speaking. He thinks that she does this because she has to. How little he knows. She does this because she wants to, because she likes it when he is happy.

"I sold myself, and I am not obligated." She wraps an arm around his neck, her hand resting lightly over his heart. "Who do you think it was, that gave Chichi the idea?" She is here because she does like him.

He ought to know that.

"You did? You wanted to end up here?" And his quiet astonishment conspires to break her heart. _How little do you expect of the world?_

"It was that or be married off to Senju Tobirama." He hates Tobirama. She knows that perfectly well, but-

"Never." The sheer amount of possession in his voice is a surprise. She raises an eyebrow at him. "I am better." And that is just too funny, but also just too sad.

He is such a man of contradictions, so unsure and yet so confident.

"Yes." And his fatigue is gone now. "Besides." She whispers in his ear. "If I dislike you so much, I could just boil you in the tub, yes?"

He blushes, she sees it rise on his neck, and it is not the heat of the water. And then an instant later he drenches her. "Maybe I'll boil you in the tub."

She pulls back and wipes a hand over her face, and in a vain attempt, tries to straighten her hair. _Madara-sama!_

He laughs until his sides ache, and it is deep and lovely. He is a man who so rarely laughs. "Come here. I'll wash your hair."

"You just want to spend more time playing with it." He will never admit why he is so fascinated with her hair. He tells her that it gives him headaches and that he doesn't care for it, but he runs his hands through it with the slightest provocation. "Isn't it supposed to be headache red?"

He pulls the corners of her mouth up until they are smiling once more, and that he takes the liberty to do so means that his mood has fully recovered. "I am going to relish the fact that Senju Tobirama will never touch it."

"I don't think he's fascinated, Madara-sama." As far as she knows, Senju Tobirama cares not a whit for her, despite Madara-sama's sudden descent into jealousy.

"He better not be." Madara-sama mutters crossly as he pulls all the pins from her hair, and raises the bar of soap. "I'll kill him."

And the peaceful silence that falls between them is entirely pleasant.

* * *

 **A.N.** And I proofread this a million times, but I have no idea if I got everything. Either way, meeting Niisama from Kanae's perspective is always good. (That and Setsuna's reactions to Niisama is also great. He's just so...concerned.)

Thank you so much to LittleMissSugarLess, stubs1101, Scarease (I feel like Madara would indoctrinate his kids to hate Tobirama on principle.), ItsNotLikeILoveYou and fernandfeather for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	9. Growing Fond

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

I wish you to know,

That you have been the last dream of my soul.

-Charles Dickens, _A Tale of Two Cities_

* * *

"Kanae-hime, Kanae-hime, what's this flower?" Momo-chan thrusts a bold red flower at her. Momo-chan and the other children have been trying to teach her about different plants here, and she's willing to humor them.

The flower has six petals and a cluster of pollen in the center. _Which flowers were red again?_ "A rose?"

Momo-chan giggles. "It's a lily, Kanae-hime."

Kanae blinks. "What's the difference?" _There's a language for these flowers, which every lady knows. Besides, since they all mean such weird things, I do have to send remember to send guests and visiting dignitaries the right things. I can't hide behind my foreign childhood for this forever._

"A rose is shaped differently." Rei-chan leans forward. "And they have more than six petals and they're layered."

"And the petals are farther apart on lilies." Momo-chan props her head up on her hands, elbows on her knees. "This is a red lily. It means-"

"Resilience, passion, and beauty, right?" She only interrupts because it is a red flower. _Red._ Unsurprisingly, girls from Uzu are fond of the color red.

"We were only going to say passion." Rei-chan blinks. "But red's good for a lot of things, isn't it, Kanae-hime?"

"Mmmhmmm." She finishes sorting her collection of tea leaves. Madara-sama seems more partial to a particular variety of green tea than any other one she's tried. _Not that I'm certain that he really pays attention to what type of tea he's drinking while he reads petitions to join Konoha._ "Red is life in all it's vibrancy."

"Does that mean that you're life, Kanae-hime?" Taiko-kun had been silent for a long while as the girls found flowers and fruits and other plants to quiz her with, but she should have known that he was listening.

"Oh, hardly." She leans over to pinch his cheek. _You are amusing, aren't you?_ "Almost everyone in Uzu has red hair." She'd known of course, that most people didn't have hair as red as her own, but still, it is strange to live here and see blacks and browns.

It is strange to be unusual, that is all.

"Really?" Rei-chan leans forward, eyes wide. "What do little girls in Uzu do?"

Kanae considers it. "They do what all little girls do, I suppose." It is hard to remember everyone that she won't see anymore. _I have no cause to go back to visit them. No reason to besides the fact that I miss them._ "They count shells and go cliff diving and try on pearl earrings and learn to cook and sew and dance."

Her home is here now, and Madara-sama is still so easily tired. It would be unfair to leave him alone. He needs someone to care.

"Oh." Momo-chan swings her feet back and forth, perched precariously on the kitchen table. "What's cliff diving?"

"It's when..." And suddenly she remembers that there are no cliffs to dive from, and no sea to catch any divers who might attempt the feat here. "It's an activity that requires an ocean and a cliff." She says at last. She's paused too long.

It isn't kind to keep remembering everything. It is gone now, so she should move forward instead of standing still like this.

Momo-chan nods without really thinking about it, her eyes focused on something else. "How old are you, Kanae-hime?"

"Seventeen." And now she realizes with a pang, that it is her birthday tonight of all nights. The thirteenth evening of June. She was born during a summer squall, to a storm howling off the coast. Chichi had always said that she howled louder than the storm and that she'd smacked Niisama's cheek when she'd been handed over to him to hold.

Korui-nii had always jokingly pulled her pigtails and said that Niisama had lost his heart right then and there, sinking reverentially to his knees, a love so deep that he'd been drowning in it.

"But I will be eighteen soon." _In a few more hours._ She hands each of the children in her kitchen a piece of mochi wrapped in a bamboo leaf and she is greeted with a chorus of thank yous before they hurry outside to play games in the morning sunlight.

This morning, it is bright, without a single cloud in the sky, and the merciless sun cooks the inside of her wooden house like an oven. She decides that perhaps attempting to cook lunch today is a lost cause, and instead searches for Izuna among the rooms of the house. They could go down to the river, and she can finally play him a song on the koto.

Surely, today of all days, he'd agree.

"Izuna?" He's playing shogi with himself today, calmly turning the pieces over in his hands, before setting them onto the table, in the spaces they would go if he bothered to spread the board out.

"Yes, Neesan?" He doesn't turn in her direction, instead, he sets down the piece he'd been holding, a silver general, and waits for her to make the next move.

She comes to sit beside him by the table. It's only fair that he finish his game before they go, despite how the muggy air makes the silk of her kimono stick to her spine. "I was going to ask you a question, but you still have a game to finish."

He smiles at her, a little wry, a little amused. "I forgot the position of the pieces, Neesan." He tells her, voice small. "Would you tell me what they are?"

She doesn't think he's actually forgotten. _Maybe he just wants to know what sort of reaction I'd have. Maybe he wants to know if I'd smother him._

"I'm not sure I can help you." She tells him rather honestly. She'd never cared for shogi, much like she's never cared for advanced sealing techniques. "I don't know very much about the game, beyond the names of the pieces, and those I can just read."

And now he smiles again, more genuinely. "I suppose I can't ask you to play my opposition then?"

She shrugs and remembers that he cannot see it. "I would be terrible at it, Izuna."

"Neesan, what were you really going to ask?" He starts carefully placing the pieces back in the box.

"I was wondering if you'd go down to the river with me." He opens his mouth, to say no, she's sure, so she slaps a hand over his mouth to prevent him. "Listen to me, Izuna. I'd go with or without you since the sun is far too merciless today, but I think you'd like the trip too."

She sees the shift, sees him slump. "Of course, Neesan." He tells her, rising to his feet. He offers her a hand, gallantly as any gentleman, and she takes it.

"You have to leave the house sometime." She doesn't like to think that perhaps she's forcing him to do something that he has no desire to do.

"Niisan would be frantic if he can't find either of us when he gets home." He sounds resigned. He shouldn't have to.

"You're twenty-two." They've passed the main gate now. "And I'm eighteen." There are people turning on the street to stare at them as they pass. She holds her head high and ignores them. "Why would leaving the house be such a big deal?"

"Niisan worries constantly." Izuna tells her, and she attempts to pull him out of the way of an old woman with a cart. He lets her do it, but something's lost.

 _Does he not...oh, of course, he doesn't._ She'd gotten too used to anticipating things with Madara-sama. It is only fair that Izuna does not like being coddled.

Maybe he would have preferred to run into the cart.

"Neesan?" They sit with their feet in the water, and it moves soothingly, but differently than sitting on the rocks by the crash of the waves. The air does not smell of salt.

"Yes?" She strums the koto absently, songs forgotten for the moment.

"Why are you kind to Niisan?" The question comes completely from out of the blue and smacks her in the face like a fish.

"Must I have a reason to be kind to my husband?" She asks. She wonders what exactly Izuna knows. _Perhaps he does know how much Madara-sama loves Hashirama. Perhaps he's concerned about how I'd take it._

"Because..." He trails off, his hands clasped together in his lap gently, loosely. He doesn't seem nervous. "Niisan deserves someone who would never leave him." Izuna is the only family that Madara-sama has left, but conversely, Madara-sama is the only family that Izuna has left as well.

She rather suspects that Izuna can and will and has sacrificed far more for Madara-sama than most people could ever stomach sacrificing for a brother. "I won't leave him." She tells him rather calmly. "And I know that he loves Senju Hashirama."

"Was your situation really so desperate?" And he knows about what Madara-sama's signed to have her as well. That is not news to her.

"I was a princess of my people." She says simply, and stares up at the leafy green above them. "I did the best I could for them." The water swirls around her feet, clear and cool, so different from the West Sea. She is a displaced spiral on the whirlpool. "But no, I do not act as I do because I am obligated to. Removing my obligations will not..." She considers it, considers it truly.

 _Can I leave Madara-sama if I do not have to worry about the rice shipments?_ "Removing my obligations will not cause me to leave your brother, Izuna."

Madara-sama does not love her, and she doesn't expect him to, but she rather thinks that they are fond of each other.

"Why?" He turns to her, a frown on his lips, but it is not as if he does not believe her. Instead, it seems only that he wants to understand.

"Because..." And she thinks that she barely understands this herself. "I have stepped past a threshold that I cannot return to." She smiles at him, although he cannot see it. He can feel it just as well. "And Madara-sama deserves better than to be used and abandoned, wouldn't you agree?"

He is her husband and thus deserves better than simply obligation. Her care for him is not a duty, not a cross that she must bear, but simply another dimension of her life.

 _I will give him reason to be happy again._ This is her promise.

He will be happy again someday.

"Yes." Izuna agrees, and his smile is the most genuine it's been all day. "Thank you, Neesan." And now he ducks his head, suddenly shy. "I didn't want to...to question it, honestly."

"But you had to." She cups his cheek, water droplets between them. "He is your brother and you love him, so of course you had to ask why."

His hesitance is only natural.

She doesn't trust Senju Hashirama with Neesan's heart much further than the end of the gangplank. Uchiha Izuna is already far nicer than she is.

"I should have understood." Izuna stands and offers her a hand that she takes. "Your reasons aren't so hard to understand."

At this, she laughs. "Well, no hard feelings between us, ne?"

They walk back together, through the oppressive heat, and there is a quiet peace between them, all the way until they get to the door.

"Neesan." She'd only set a hand on his elbow, because there is a bit of a ledge over the threshold, and she doesn't want him to trip, but he turns back to her, a small scowl on his face. "If I need help, I'll ask."

Right. She needs to be more careful about this. "I'm not trying to pity you." He really needs to know that. She doesn't try to help him out of pity, however much it might seem like that to him in the moment.

"I know that, Neesan." He runs an impatient hand through his hair. "I know that." He sounds like he's trying to convince himself of that. He steps over the ledge easily and heads towards the house without her. "But Neesan, sometimes it still feels..." _Like you think less of me somehow._

"I'll try not to assume again." She tugs his sleeve, and he stops. "No hard feelings between us, ne?"

He smiles. "No hard feelings, Neesan."

And that is good enough for the moment, so she lets him go, and returns to the kitchen.

 _What should I make for dinner today?_

She doesn't expect Madara-sama to know that it is her birthday tonight, but she does expect Neesan to come and visit, if not for dinner then before or after. _Neesan likes yokan._

She'll have to strain red bean paste then.

* * *

She's halfway through carving the blocks of red bean jelly into a fanciful collection of seashells and seaweeds, humming mindlessly while thinking of Neesan's delighted smile when she presents them to her when there's a knock on the door.

"Neesan?" She wipes her hands on a towel and hurries out toward the front door. "You know there's no reason to..."

It's not Neesan.

It's a woman that Kanae can only suppose is an Uchiha. She has the same expressive dark eyes and inky black hair, the same full lips and rounded face as other women that Kanae has seen around the district. Perhaps she's one of Madara-sama's cousins, Kanae isn't very aware.

She really should know though, because Madara-sama is a clan head. _Why does he never speak of the names of anyone?_ It's at moments like these when she really wishes that Madara-sama liked to hold gatherings and parties and have guests over just a little more.

But then, this negligence is her fault as much as it is his.

It won't happen again.

"Do come in," Kanae gestures for the other woman to make herself at home. "I was just carving yokan in the kitchen."

"You make your own, then, Kanae-hime?" They're in the kitchen now, and the other woman watches curiously, as Kanae picks up the next block and the small knife that she'd been using.

"Oh, yes." She's fond of cooking, fond of these little shapes and images, and it is much more fun when there is an ample supply of ingredients and not seven or eight pairs of hands attempting to carve a small pile of jelly blocks. "It's not very hard, though I am a little out of practice."

"Rei-chan tells me that you tell the most amazing stories." The other woman smiles. "And that you believe in fish bigger than houses."

Kanae has to hide a giggle at this. "I don't believe in them. I've seen them. My brothers are whalers."

A nod, a teasing smile. "Well, whales are a little different than big fish aren't they?"

Kanae knows that they can be great friends. It's just...there's a small problem. "I don't believe that Madara-sama ever introduced us?"

She still can't quite admit that she doesn't know the names of anyone at all, really. She's met Madara-sama, Izuna, Setsuna and Hikaku, and practically every child of the clan, and there her knowledge of her new family ends.

It's a far cry from how easily she is able to greet everyone she passed on the street in Uzu.

"Oh." The woman blinks. "How rude of me to not even introduce myself." She bows, straight inky hair sweeping over her shoulder like a curtain. "I am Uchiha Inami, wife of Uchiha Hikaku, and mother of Rei-chan and Akira-kun."

"No, no." Kanae laughs and helps her up. "I'm afraid the fault is mine. I never did get around to visiting my neighbors."

Inami straightens, an impish smile on her lips. "And yet, stories of you have already made their way around the district." She leans in. "Is it true that you dragged Hyuga Iroha about by the ear? Or that Madara-sama actually does as you say?"

She has to hide her face behind her hands, because oh Kami, this embarrassment _burns._ "I only meant to make him apologize to Madara-sama." And the answer to the other question? Well, it doesn't bear thinking about. _Will Madara-sama be disgruntled should he hear that particular rumor? He's already grumbling about how his clan is comprised of terrible gossips._

Inami laughs, and it is clear and sweet. "Madara-sama must have been so surprised." Kanae looks at her, an eyebrow raised, and she clarifies. "He is a good man, really, but my third cousin really needs to keep a rein on his temper." Inami looks away, hiding a giggle behind her wide sleeves. "Or at least, he needs to stop scowling in public."

"I'll tell him that you suggested it." Kanae does not mean to say this. It just...slips from her lips easily, as if she's known Inami all her life. "I'm sure he'll take it to heart."

"Oh please...please don't." Inami wipes a tear from her eye and _howls._ "I can just imagine how he'll take it to heart."

It is pleasant to speak to someone who doesn't think that Madara-sama is the devil, but simply a man like every other man in the world.

"Alright, alright." Kanae sets another shell shaped yokan onto the tray. "I'll just persuade him to try to smile a little more in public." And Inami is pleasant, but- _Neesan, where are you?_

Surely, Neesan didn't forget about her did she?

"You're not so different from everyone else, Kanae-hime." Inami says suddenly.

"Hmm?" She doesn't know exactly what the other woman means, so it's best to ask and let her explain.

"We thought you'd be hopelessly foreign." Inami looks down at her sleeve. "Or well, Shizuki didn't even think that Madara-sama would bring anyone here, and Hanako and Sayu were in agreement. I always thought that you wouldn't like it here very much, but clearly, it isn't true. You won't hold that against us, will you?"

Kanae considers how Madara-sama had been when she first met him. "I won't." And she has to smile, because surely, Madara-sama is a little better now, than he'd been just a few months ago. "I didn't think Madara-sama would be fond of me either." She arranges her jelly shells onto a platter and considers the rest of the menu for her birthday dinner. "But I think I'll be very happy here if I had a few more friends."

It's, well, it's not entirely fair of her to add just a little bit of glamour to her smile, to make it easier for Inami to agree to introduce her to everyone in the district, to all the women who have yet to really visit.

She knows why they haven't now though. _It's because they thought I wouldn't last here. That I'd want to go home sooner or later._

 _I won't be going anywhere. This is my home, and I would rather that they like me than not._

"We sew together in the evenings at Miyako's house. We'd love if you joined us sometime." Inami doesn't seem to have noticed, though she does rise to go. "It's the one to the left of the shrine, you can't miss it."

And that's the best that Kanae can expect really. She might think that they would make great friends, but relationships are a gradual process. There can be no sudden declarations upon first meeting without at least one party being an idiot. "I look forward to it."

Inami nods, and then she's gone, steps light and airy in the hallway.

* * *

It gets later, and Neesan does not arrive. It gets later still, Izuna retires to sleep, and Madara-sama is still not home.

She sits by the window in their bedroom and watches the sudden storm stain the rice paper.

It isn't like a summer storm would be like back in Uzu. It is far too gentle, too resigned to be a storm screaming its fury to the heavens.

She doesn't know why she is suddenly homesick, sick for the wild war whoops of the Terrible Twins, for Masato-nii's sharp cutting tongue-in-cheek witticisms, for Korui-nii's eyes wide in surprise, for Haha's soft hands shaping her hair, for Chichi to smile and tease her about another year older, for Niisama absently strumming his koto.

She thought that this year, at least Neesan would be over to visit, but of course, Neesan is busy.

Of course, there'd be no one to remember or know that she is another year older.

It is cold comfort to know that dinner is as pristine and perfect as ever. Whenever Madara-sama arrives home, it will be there to greet him.

She's made sure that the hallway is well lit. There is no chance that he'd hurt himself in the dark, but there is something about a light in the window that is comforting to him.

She hears the door slide open, and she's on her feet in an instance.

There he is, standing in the doorway, water pooling around his sandals, dripping from his hair, his armor gleaming in the low light of the seals.

"Madara-sama! You're completely drenched." She feels his forehead. "But you don't seem very cold..." He'd catch a cold if he isn't careful, and there is no reason to jeopardize his health.

"It's only a thunderstorm, and it is June." He seems in good spirits then, despite the water, despite the storm. "Why would I be cold?"

"You could get sick." She pulls him down the hallway toward their room. _There's a towel there, and new clothes for you. You won't be getting sick if I can help it._ "And then you'll be entirely grumpy." And then after he's changed, she can ask if he's hungry. He has to be hungry. It is very late.

"Are you hungry? It's late, so we ate without you, and Izuna's gone to bed already, but I could heat the food up for you." She's chattering, but that Neesan is certainly not visiting tonight, hurts.

It hurts, and she doesn't know entirely why. _Neesan has responsibilities. She can't possibly run around doing things for me all the time._

"I ate." And he sounds so resigned. He shouldn't have to.

"I see." She pauses because it's too painful. She shouldn't expect, shouldn't-

It's just another disappointment that's all.

"I-" His breath catches. He looks like he owns her an explanation. He doesn't.

"You don't have to explain, Madara-sama. I understand." She does, she really does. At least, she wants to.

He pulls her back. "I won't do it again."

His hands are tangled in her hair. "Oh." It's not what he's done. She shouldn't be disappointed. He doesn't know that it's-well, Neesan doesn't have that sort of time anymore.

It feels very cold.

"I missed something important, didn't I?" He still thinks it's him.

"You didn't know." She's too tired to tell him that it isn't him exactly. It isn't really him. She's overreacting. She shouldn't need-

"What did I miss?" He sounds so sweet tonight.

"I-I am eighteen today. Tonight." She doesn't mean to tell him. It's not important, but he had asked, had asked, so she does.

"What would you like?" He brushes her hair away from her face. "I will give you anything you'd like."

She laughs, wetly against his neck. _Oh, Madara-sama. There are a million and one things that you cannot possibly give me._ "Stay alive, Madara-sama. Stay alive." She worries for him. Worries that somehow he'd slip away from her hands even if he seems so solid and real at the moment.

Obaasan had said that he is fragile. She'll not take that chance.

"I promise you. I will." He closes his eyes. "But ask for something that belongs to you."

 _He means his heart._ The realization is shocking. _Does he really think-oh, of course, he would._ Kanae pushes away her disappointment with Neesan, with the day in general, with all of that, and focuses. _Why on earth would he want me to ask for something that he can't possibly give me?_

"Tell me why you want to be Hokage?" She'd wondered, privately always, why he wants to lead a city that does not hide its distaste for him. It's a safer question than what he wants her to ask for. She won't force him to make impossible choices. She _won't_.

"When I was a boy..." He sighs, shoulders slumped "I buried three younger brothers, and dreamed of peace."

 _Oh._ "Mmmm." She traces the scar over his side, and wonders just how much it pains him to speak of it. From how much he loves Izuna... _They must have been such a large part of him. Losing them must have hurt._

"And then...I met Senju Hashirama." He says this softly, as though any louder and he'd break the reverie. "We were friends. He had the same dreams, despite how my clan warred with his." He pauses for a moment. "I buried my brothers because of the Senju." Each word drips with pain.

She touches his cheek and realizes faintly that he is crying. "Yet you made peace with them." He didn't have to make peace.

If it had been some other clan that had killed- _Neesan, Niisama and the Terrible Twins, no matter how good a friend one of them were, could I have made peace?_

 _I couldn't have._ She decides. _Madara-sama has a kinder heart than me._

 _I wouldn't have been able to make peace._ It would have been war or death for me.

"It is a peace built on the sacrifice of my family." He is resigned. "I would give anything to protect it."

"So that's why you want to be Hokage?" She sees why he would dream of it now, and how easily it would ruin him when he does not win the vote. _Is there anything I can do to help you when that time comes?_ "And why it hurts you to love Hashirama-san so, it feels like you're turning your back on your brothers?"

He laughs."You know me so well."

"You are not as hard to read as you think, Madara-sama." Why doesn't anyone else speak to him, of matters of the heart? Why do they turn away from him? His are worries and fears and concerns that are not so hard to see.

"Ask me for my heart." He whispers the words against her hair, and his heartbeat is steady beneath his hands.

He rather sounds like he wants her to demand it as if he means his request.

"A heart is given, Madara-sama." She says slowly. If she were to be selfish, she would demand it, and watch him tear himself to pieces. She cannot do that to him. It is not his duty to love her, and she does not want him to love her out of duty. "It cannot be demanded when it belongs to someone else." She leans up and kisses the underside of his jaw. "Asking would be extortion."

If she is truthful with herself, she would rather that he love her because he finds her loveable. _Careful, Kanae. You cannot hope for that from him._

 _Best be careful of disappointment._

"Then ask me for something of mine." His voice rumbles like evening thunder. It would be so easy to be possessed.

"Your hope." He has so little hope for the future. _Can I not give you more optimism? Will you ever dare hope?_ "And let my hope be yours."

"You ask me to stop protesting." He kisses her temple, the corner of her eye, each fingertip in turn. "I'll listen."

 _Best be careful of disappointment._

It is too late of course. She's in too deep.

* * *

As it turns out, he does get sick from wandering about in the rain. In fact, he is certainly uncomfortably warm by the time she wakes the next morning.

He mumbles sleepily as she shifts. "Must you get up?" His head is still pressed to the hollow between her shoulder blades, a steady comforting sort of weight.

"Madara-sama." She shifts, and he moves with her. "I need to touch you to heal you." It's quite clear that he is unwilling to let her go, that he's entered a clinging phase after last night.

The events of the past night seem so far away in the light of the morning.

He huffs and refuses to let her go. "It's just a cold."

"But you said that you wouldn't get sick, and then you did." She is a little concerned about him, and his lack of attention. _You cannot say that it is just a cold. Those kill._

The elderly, the very young, and he is neither of those, and perfectly capable, but she is concerned anyway.

"Stay." He breathes, still half asleep. Still drowsy and calm.

It is the worst sort of cruelty that he'll come home unhappy as he does so often. _When will you be content, Madara-sama? When will the outside world no longer be able to hurt you?_

"Let me turn around? I promise I won't leave if you let go, Madara-sama." She isn't entirely awake at the moment anyway. It wouldn't hurt to stay in bed for another few minutes.

He concedes, rolling over, and lets her go. Her fingertips trail over his forehead. She concentrates for a brief moment, and his fever recedes. Her hand slides down over his jawline. In the light of the morning, he is beautiful with his eyes half-closed. There is a certain peace to him at this moment, that she wishes desperately to capture and keep forever.

"Is there anything you cannot do?" He kisses the center of her palm.

 _Anything I have not-_ "I have not harpooned a whale." She tells him. She hasn't ever taken a trip with the Terrible Twins. Hasn't ever, and won't ever. But deeper than that, she has never fallen on hard times, not the same type that he has. To have harpooned a whale is to have gone to war.

She hasn't been to war.

"Would you like children, Madara-sama?" The question slips from her lips as if she could suddenly, magically produce a child if he says yes.

"Hmmm?" It seems as though he hasn't been paying much attention.

"Do you like children, Madara-sama?" This is a different question than her original, but she supposes the answer to one is the answer to the other. If he doesn't like children normally, she doubts that he'd like his own children much more.

"Is there an announcement that you'd want to make if I say that I do?" He doesn't sound convinced of much of anything, but he also doesn't sound displeased with the idea.

"No." She huffs and shakes her head. _Please just answer the question, Madara-sama._ "I just wondered."

"I-" He swallows whatever words he was about to say. "We have no obligation to hurry." He's in no hurry particularly then and would like her to tell the clan that, should they ask.

She can live with that.

It is a little bit of a relief, that he's in no particular hurry, but she has always envisioned a family of at least five, three children with red hair, and a faceless husband. She'd been surrounded by siblings. She'd never been lonely.

Her husband is certainly no longer faceless, but she still does dream of a family. Someday, she's certain, that dream will be a reality.

"You don't know if you like children." He'll correct her if she's wrong. "Or, you don't know...if you can like a child." Her eyes fall closed. _Oh, Madara-sama. Are you so afraid to care for people who can leave you? Your family won't leave you again if you don't want us to._

"Mmm." He shifts and his arms close around her.

It is pleasantly warm here, and surely a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.

Her head is pillowed on the waves, and her dreams are filled with the scent of salt.

* * *

 **A.N.** And so this is...why Kanae was upset on her birthday. That and more Izuna, because we always need more Izuna, and he's hardly as harmless as Madara thinks he is. (Well, Madara thinks he's harmless to everything except Madara's own ego, but that is completely untrue.)

I have created a poll to gauge the interest levels of seeing different perspectives in this universe. It should be live on my profile as of now. If anyone has strong opinions either way, now would be the time to air them.

Thank you so much to bunnyguest (Izuna does go out of the house this chapter, but they end up having a discussion instead of actually doing much of anything.), Scarease (That's true. And it would be very funny.), Grimmjow-Girl (I'll admit that Hibari-san is one of my favorite characters ever, and that some part of his nature appears in Kanae's Niisama, but he is his own individual being. I also kind of feel that Tobirama's Uchiha hatred is well, it's a flaw of his, but Tobirama isn't a miserable douche without a reason to be. I'm hoping that over the course of this story, he grows and changes, as he is beginning to in Sunfall.), alizay, Natzed202, stubs1101 (But it was in word length, longer than most chapters...It might just be the timeframe. It covered roughly one day, so it might feel shorter than some other chapters which cover larger timeframes.), LittleMissSugarLess, and Fey (I'm so glad you like Kyoya. I'm very fond of him and his alien nature.) for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	10. New to This

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"I could be anything

In the world,

But I want to be his."

-Rupi Kaur, _The Sun and Her Flowers_

* * *

Madara-sama is still awake when she wakes up again. She's tucked firmly against him, and one of his hands plays with the ends of her long hair. "Who is it that claims mornings are times to work?" He rumbles, quietly amused.

"And who is it that cannot manage to pry himself out of bed in a timely manner most days?" It is embarrassing to have fallen asleep again, especially after asking him such a personal question, but she does her best to hide it.

He hums absently, fingers entwined with red. "Myself, I suppose, most days." His mood is good then, if he'll admit that he likes to laze around in bed. He wouldn't have, before.

"Didn't you fall asleep as well?" His heartbeat is steady in her ears, almost as rhythmic as the pull of the tide. Her head is against his shoulder. His hand curls possessively around the curve of her hip. Their legs are entwined.

She'd thought once, long ago, that they sleep as lovers might. It is harder to ignore now, when he seems so content to stay here without letting her go.

"No." He twirls a lock of her hair around his index finger and raises it to the light. "You look younger when you're asleep."

He'd always thought her young even when she's awake. To hear that she looks younger still when she's asleep...Now, suddenly, it discomfits her. "Am I a child to you?" He makes allowances for her. Is it because-

"Would I sleep with a child?" Her statement has made him uneasy. She feels it in the change in his heartbeat. He pushes himself up so that his head is propped up by his elbow. "You think I find you small, frail, and easily led?" He tucks the strand of hair behind her ear. His eyes are dark, but the set of his mouth is annoyed. "Don't be foolish." But the hard line of his lips softens as he sits up with his back to her, legs crossed, hands folded in his lap. "I will remember your birthday for next year." It's not what he wanted to say.

She hugs him, her chin on his shoulder, her hand on his heart. "What did you want to say, Madara-sama?"

He takes her hand with one of his own and entwines their fingers. There is pain at the edge of his smile. "Only that I should not have mentioned it." That isn't it either, but she doubts that she should push it. If he does not say after she has asked, it is unlikely that he wants to say at all.

"No. It was a silly thing to think." She squeezes his hand. It is callused and scarred. There is most likely not a part of him that isn't scared. "You would have refused if you really thought that." Whatever he might allow her, he still has honor. "And you do not disrespect me." If he truly thought of her as a child, then her opinions would not be important to him.

She'd overthought a simple statement and killed his good mood along with it.

It is boundlessly stupid. She will not make the same mistake again.

"Ah." He stares at their clasped hands for a long moment. "My name is only Madara."

He wants her to drop the suffix, but how can she? He deserves the respect she offers by calling him so. "I call you Madara-sama because that is the respect you deserve." She settles for that, because she does not know how to explain.

"Is it?" His tone is pensive. "Then thank you." It is sad that he would thank her for such a small thing. _Do you find respect so rare, Madara-sama?_

Alas, as it is already mid-morning, he needs to go before Hashirama-san decides to come looking for him. She has already ruined enough this morning without needing to do more.

"Will you make sure to eat breakfast on the way?" There's no time for her to prepare anything more than miso soup, and even that will take time.

He blinks and holds his hair out of the way as she finishes tying on his shoulder guards. "I will make sure to eat."

She leans up carefully, in the moment before he turns to go, and kisses his jawline. "I'm sorry for asking, Madara-sama." He knows that she isn't referring to breakfast.

She's pulled into a bone crushing hug. "Never be sorry."

And then he's well and truly gone.

She sits down idly by the vanity and takes a moment for introspection as she brushes out her hair.

"Do I love him?" She wonders out loud. _Perhaps I do._

It is not quite perhaps, if only because she doesn't want to admit it to herself yet. "Would I know if I love him?" She wonders while staring at her reflection. _I've never fallen in love before. Maybe I feel compelled to care for him because I am used to caring for people._

She shakes her head.

All of this is useless pondering.

The only question that truly remains to her is thus: _If I do love him, what ought I do about it?_

And the only answer remains to her is thus: _Nothing._

It need change nothing, to know or not to know. It matters only to herself.

She spins around the room and smiles to herself. _I'm in love, and love is always a happy feeling._

* * *

That afternoon, after she has gone to market and made dinner plans, she sits down to finish her sewing.

There are only two more shirts in Madara-sama's wardrobe that have not undergone a subtle reworking. As of yet, he hasn't asked her about it so she finds no reason to mention it.

But still, it is a cooler day than the one before it, and despite the blunder she'd made in the morning, she's in good spirits.

The happiest person in the world is a person who knows herself. Kanae has made sure to know herself that morning, which means very clearly that she has fallen in love and even if she isn't going to do anything in particular about it, the thought makes her giddy.

The door to the courtyard creaks open, and Neesan steps in. There is nothing strange about this, though she does wish that Neesan had shown up yesterday, today is good too.

The stranger part of the sight is Tobirama helping her over the slight ledge. Then, she hasn't ever seen Tobirama be kind before. Perhaps he has it in him.

Perhaps he isn't completely unrepentantly terrible, and she shouldn't poison his tea.

"Kanae-chan?"

She blinks. "Oh, I was distracted." She'd been staring off into space, musing over exactly what it is that she loves about Madara-sama and considering how to best not poison Tobirama's tea. She's feeling generous today. "I'm sorry." She sets aside her sewing and stretches her arms and shoulders.

Tobirama is standing as discretely as a very awkward stone statue on the other side of the courtyard with his arms crossed. If she were less distracted, she would flick pebbles at him and laugh until he becomes frustrated.

"No." Neesan sits down beside her. "I should be sorry. I didn't wish you happy birthday yesterday." Neesan pulls her close, though not as close as she would have before, if only because her growing stomach gets in the way.

Kanae feels perfectly vindicated. _Of course, Neesan remembered your birthday, silly. She must have a perfectly good reason to not have visited yesterday to say so. There's no need to be sad about that._

"No, it's fine." Kanae waves Neesan's concerns away with an airy hand. It is easy to be generous today, because her mood is perfectly buoyant. "You must have been busy yesterday."

"No...that's not quite it." Neesan sighs and pulls a length of silk out of the basket on her arm. "I was going to give you this, but I didn't finish it until last night."

It is a square of blue silk wrapped around a set of bone combs. They aren't ones that she's seen before, because they are carved with little scenes and pictures, and all throughout, the whirlpools of Uzu are interspersed. "They're beautiful, Neesan."

"I thought you would like them." Neesan smooths her kimono over her legs. "You left your carved hairpins behind in Uzu after all."

They sit in silence for a moment, during which Kanae wonders if she should bring Tobirama some tea and feed the leftover jellies to Neesan. It might be a good idea. Neesan does like them, and she doubts that pregnancy would change Neesan's love for sweets even if there are rumors that pregnancy changes one's eating habits.

"Uchiha-sama visited last night." Neesan remarks quite suddenly.

Well, Madara-sama had not said specifically that he'd been at Hashirama's house, but it is doubtful that he'd eat dinner anywhere else if he wasn't at home. "I know." She hadn't exactly known, but his guilt over the whole situation should have been enough to warn her.

It doesn't matter.

Not at all.

"He left rather suddenly." Neesan continues. "Did he know that it was your birthday?"

Kanae forces herself to laugh. "How would he have known, Neesan? I didn't tell him beforehand." Best not think of how Madara-sama will never love her.

Put it away, and it will not hurt. Senju Hashirama holds two hearts that Kanae cares for dearly. Neesan, well Neesan is alright, because it does seem that Hashirama dotes on Neesan, and Neesan is happy where she is.

Madara-sama's is a little less forgivable. _What use do you have for his heart, Senju Hashirama, if all you do is make him sad and small? You tear him to pieces in a hundred thousand unknowing ways and still he soldiers on. Isn't that a curse instead of a blessing?_

It is a cruel thing to think. Hashirama did not ask for Madara-sama to love him. It had just happened, is all.

Neesan blinks and stares at her with an odd expression on her face. "You didn't tell him?"

"I forgot to." Kanae laughs and spins around until she is about dizzy. "But he told me a story and gave me the best present in the world." She's exaggerating, but owning all of Madara-sama's hope is a very good present all said and done.

"The best present in the world is it?" Neesan looks amused, and she smiles her chin on her hand. "I'm just a little bit hurt, Kanae-chan. Why, the thought that Uchiha-sama gives better presents than me despite how well I know you breaks my heart." Neesan's grin is just a little bit foxy.

"Oh no." Oh, why had she said that? "That's really not what I meant, _Neesan!_ " It's unfair that Neesan's eyes are laughing at her. "Your present really is wonderful."

"I know." And the curve of Neesan's smile is gently dangerous. "I'm just glad he's treating you well." Perhaps Neesan had been worried. She doesn't need to be. There's nothing dangerous about Madara-sama, except his propensity towards sadness.

 _I honestly believe that he'll kill himself before he touches me in anger. He doesn't seem to mind dying, by his hand or anyone else's._

"Un." Kanae smiles back. "No need to worry." The moment is perfect.

From his place on the other side of the courtyard, Tobirama snorts.

The moment is not perfect, but Kanae will be gracious. She will not poison Tobirama's tea. _I'll be the bigger person than you just this once._

 _Hah._ It might be petty of her, but then, she's always been petty.

* * *

It is the middle of August when Madara-sama stomps through the door in the middle of the afternoon, much earlier than he would ever come home if he hasn't gotten into yet another fight with someone.

This time, she rather suspects that it isn't Tobirama, because Tobirama is still following Neesan around and stressing over her every move. It would be funny if Neesan wasn't so upset about it.

But no, Madara-sama huffily evacuates all the children from the porch and the courtyard with vague shooing motions which aren't the least bit scary, and promptly proceeds to glare and scowl his way to her side.

"What's the matter?" She rises from her seat on the steps and smooths the creases from his brow with a hand. She might regret asking. It might lead to a rant.

"Hashirama." Madara-sama strangles the air in front of him with an aborted growl. "Is goddamn stupid." He turns, furiously and jabs a finger in the air before him. " _Stupid!_ "

Kanae tries desperately to muffle a giggle. He looks like a little boy explaining a schoolyard brawl. "Stupid?" She asks.

Madara-sama turns back to glare balefully at her. "What sort of idiot invites foreign dignitaries into his own house when his wife is pregnant and then proceeds to invite the rest of the village leadership to dinner with said dignitaries? Why the hell is it important that we eat dinner with them? Just have them sign the goddamned peace treaty and send them packing. There's no need to-"

He makes several more tense strangling motions.

"Madara-sama." She takes his hand and leads him inside instead. There's no point in letting him stew in his own frustrations. "I assume that we're being invited to a dinner then?"

He growls and heaves an exasperated sigh. "Yes." The word doesn't want to leave him, but it does anyway.

"If that's the case, we ought to get ready, shouldn't we?" She pulls him back to his-their room. She supposes that it's their room now.

She's never moved out of his room, and he shows no inclination of wanting her to, so she stayed. It is uncommon for a clan head and his wife to share a bedroom. Haha and Chichi never have, but Madara-sama doesn't seem to mind.

He's added extra furniture for her, hadn't said a word when her clothing joined his in the wardrobe, when she started adding flowers to a vase on his desk, when her makeup took over the vanity. She'd started encroaching on his space, and all he'd done was stop to smell the flowers half absently as he scowled at some report or other one night as though it was perfectly normal.

Perhaps for him, it is.

She sits down by the vanity to start powdering her face. The process does take time, and her brother-in-law has left precious little of it for her to get ready.

"Niisan, I'm going." She doesn't know how Izuna found out about the dinner, likely from Madara-sama's strangled screams and curses or even more likely, from Madara-sama himself, but still, there he stands in his best clothes leaning against the doorway, arms crossed.

"You are not going." Madara-sama snaps. She understands that he's stressed about this event, but attempting to coddle Izuna will simply make the situation worse.

"I am going, Niisan." Izuna sounds displeased. He's most likely caught on to what his brother is attempting to do and finds it perfectly awful.

"You are... _not._ " Madara-sama sounds incensed.

She rises. "Madara-sama, is the dinner going to be dangerous?" She assumes that it is, because he's stressed, but maybe it won't be. Maybe his nerves are merely nerves.

"No." He doesn't sound certain of that though.

"Then it is perfectly fine for me to go." Izuna uncrosses his arms and grins triumphantly. "Unless you want to ban me just because you plan to spend the entire night playing with Neesan's hair, and don't want me to hear about it. And in that case, I have to tell you that I can't see it anyway."

And oh, that is _embarrassing. How does Izuna know that Madara-sama has a strange fascination with the color of my hair and only my hair?_

 _He doesn't pay any attention to anyone else's hair, and Neesan's is even redder than mine._

"You are a horrible human being, Otouto." Madara-sama hisses at Izuna. His ears are blushing though, so it must have embarrassed him as well. "I ought to kick you down a well."

"Neesan!" Izuna wails in mock horror. "Look at how much Niisan bullies me!"

Kanae pats him on the head. "I'm sure that it isn't so, Izuna-kun." _Madara-sama loves you._

"No, it's because he has you now." Izuna's still joking, but she detects a hint of panic in his voice. "I'm being replaced." Maybe he does fear being replaced. He shouldn't.

"Stop teasing Madara-sama, Izuna-kun." She laughs and pats Izuna's head some more. Hopefully, he'll understand. Madara-sama would never replace him with her, if only because he is not a man who _replaces._ "He'll actually feel guilty soon."

When she turns back to Madara-sama, his arms are crossed, and he is scowling. "I am _not_ replacing you."

"Un. I know, Niisan." Izuna turns to go. "But I will be very unhappy if you leave me behind."

"I won't." Madara-sama concedes.

Now that the argument is concluded, she can figure out a way to arrange her hair.

It is best to put it back into a bun.

Madara-sama comes to stand behind her. She sees the thoughtful consideration in his eyes through his reflection in the vanity's mirror. "You have new clothes." His fingers trace over the space between her shoulder blades, and she watches the emotion lurking in his eyes.

She doesn't know what that emotion is.

"Does it bother you?" It is distracting, the way he looks at the curve of her bare shoulder, the fire and warmth in his eyes.

"Bother me?" He murmurs. "Never."

The words shake her calm, all the way down to her core. He has a voice like evening thunder, and she has to distract herself somehow or else be possessed. When it doubt, turn to her jewelry box. "Madara-sama?"

"Hmm?" His fingers absently trace her neck, down her collarbone. _How strange it is that he finds me fascinating._

Concentrate. She has to concentrate or else they'd be late.

"Can you help me put the net in? I can't see the back of my head, so it will be crooked if I do." She holds out her favorite hairnet, the one with black pearls that shine with rainbows in the setting sun.

He takes it and stares at it as though he's never seen something like it before. Perhaps he hasn't. "How should I put it in?"

"They are curved, yes, the combs?" She would guide him, but still she can't see the back of her own head, and she always puts her hairnets in crooked. Such a thing will not do for tonight.

"Mmmm." He hums, staring at the hair ornament in his hand. She wonders what he's thinking of, if it's really about hair ornaments or something else.

"Turn the curved edge of the comb towards my head, and slide one in on one side of the bun." She takes his hand, and they slide the first comb in together. He's warm now, calmer than when he came in. His hand is steady. She hopes he doesn't notice that hers trembles just a little. "And then match the other comb on the other side. It has to be even."

His eyes bleed red. "Madara-sama?"

"I'm concentrating." He sighs absently against her temple, his eyes impossibly fond and a deep bloody red. It is almost cruel, that fond look in his eyes. Cruel for her heart which doesn't understand the meaning of impossible.

She turns to him, and her fingers touch his jaw without her consent. "Was the sharingan really necessary?"

His eyes are still red for a moment longer as he looks down at her. It is hard to imagine, hard not to be deluded into thinking that she holds all of his heart.

He looks so fond, so warm, so _beautiful._ He is beautiful when he smiles. "You said it had to be even."

She laughs at his pouting childishness. _You do not need the sharingan to make my hairstyle even, Madara-sama._ "Thank you, Madara-sama. I appreciate the effort." It is fun to hug him and know that he does not mind, that he relaxes with the idea of affection.

He had not before.

He sets a hand on her shoulder. She fits perfectly under his chin. "Mmm." He sighs, the rumble of his chest soft against her cheek. "Could you poison them?"

She blinks. "Who?"

"The delegation from Kumogakure." Oh, so he is back to thinking about the dinner. She shouldn't be surprised. They frustrate him. Of course, he would think of them.

"I could." But it would violate guest right. "But I won't." She pulls out her knives and slides them into her sleeves. It is better to be certainly safe than relying on the kindness of strangers. "It is below my honor to murder someone at a dinner table under the guise of peace."

"Very well." He sounds disappointed. She remembers to keep in mind that should they put a foot out of line, Madara-sama would like them poisoned.

She tucks a hand in the crook of his elbow. "Is diplomatic dinner really so terrible to you?" It's funny to think that a man of his nature would find diplomacy so irritating. _Is it because you'd really rather beat them into submission and then send them on their merry way?_

He huffs, and they step out into the hallway. "It is not dinner. It is a conflagration of things." He sounds unbearably grumpy.

She can't help it. This time, she giggles.

* * *

"And this is Uchiha Madara." Hashirama introduces them to the guests, but Kanae's barely paying him any attention. The visiting party is three, two men and a woman. "He is the co-founder of Konoha, and my dearest friend."

The addition of dearest friend has to hurt Madara-sama, but the other woman's hands have caught her eye. There's a ring on her left hand, a silvery knot of metal twisting around a tiny stone. The poisoners guildmark.

Kanae's long stopped wearing her own ring.

The red hair of the Viper is distinctive, and her painted purple lips should give the game away to anyone who is in the know.

That, and she isn't the Viper of Uzu any longer. Shishou will have to come out of retirement to teach another little boy or girl the skills of distillation and infiltration. There will be another Red Viper, a replacement for the girl who has left their shores, because Red Viper is a title inherited from master to student, not an accolade that follows one woman across borders.

She doesn't hold a prestigious title any longer, so she'll have to make a new one. Perhaps she can build the school of poisoners in Konoha and pass whatever titles she earns to her own students.

At this distance, it is hard to tell which school the foreign woman belongs to, the lines of the knot and the stone will tell. Kanae's eyes flick over to the man beside her, a brother of the poisoner perhaps. _Is he also a member of the guild?_

"Yotsuki Kikyo." He announces, eyes sliding over her as though she were just another woman. If his sister is the poisoner, then it is likely that he is her cover. "My sister, Kana." The poisoner bows, and murmurs a pleasantry. "And Imai Tanyu." The other man seems to be considering Kanae more carefully. She reminds herself that a poisoner's best asset is to seem innocuous.

The other woman's already failed at her task. Kanae knows that she is here.

Perhaps she should warn the other woman not to strike, but she's in the mood for games tonight. _You've wandered into the Viper's lair._

Madara-sama makes grimaces. _He really does not like parties._ "My brother, Uchiha Izuna."

Izuna greets them more politely. "A pleasure to meet you."

"And my wife." This is the perfect chance.

"Uchiha Kanae." She takes the other woman by the hand, a giggle breaking free of her lips. _I am no more conniving than a little flower. There's no need to fear me._ "And how do you write your name?"

Madara-sama freezes. Something like hope warring desperately with despair over his features. _Have I called myself Uchiha Kanae before in front of him?_

 _Oh, I haven't._

"The kanji for beauty." The poisoner responds. "And crow." The dara knot, looping over a green gem. She's a student of Kawaki Saemon then, in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning.

Their most potent poison: leaves of amber distilled in fermented barley.

She smiles. _I know who you are now, yes? Do you know me, Yotsuki Kana?_ "How lovely. I write mine with the characters for grace and crow. So we share a name, yes?" She dances over to take a closer look at the men next. "It is nice to meet you." They are missing identifying jewelry.

She can assume that they are not students of Kawasaki Saemon then.

Hashirama rises. "Well, now that we're all here, we should head to dinner."

 _How should I voice my suspicions?_ The procedure for such a thing in Uzu would be clear, but no one at the table besides Neesan would know the signals, and she's not sure that Neesan remembers them.

Neesan doesn't like studying poisons, because she doesn't like taking apart squids and frogs and plucking the stingers from jellyfish.

She's not sure that Hashirama knows what he's invited into his house. There are few famous poisoners in the Land of Fire the last time she checked. She's sure that Madara-sama doesn't know because he would have mentioned it otherwise. She doubts that Neesan's noticed that they are about to break bread with foreigners who most likely do not mean well.

She is seated next to Neesan, which is good, and Tobirama which is less good because he might get in the way.

Madara-sama sits with Izuna, who is on the other side of Neesan, so she knows that Hashirama at least possesses a modicum of self aware acknowledgement. _He has at least, attempted to protect Izuna from harm and trusts Madara-sama to defend himself even if he has stuck himself in the worst position of all._

"I could switch with you, Kanae-chan." Neesan offers. "Would you like to?"

Neesan's considering the fact that she doesn't like Tobirama very much. But no, it would put her even further away from Yotsuki Kana, and Neesan a body closer to a potentially bad situation.

"No," Kanae laughs and waves her fan back and forth. She makes sure that her sleeves drop just a little so that Neesan sees the glint of the blades concealed beneath. "This way I can speak to my new friend through my lovely Tobi- _nii._ "

Neesan's eyes widen, and she nods back just a fraction, her hand going to her belly.

Kanae turns away.

She's irritated Tobirama with her statement, but that hardly matters. Just because she's not going to end Tobirama with a few drops of poison in his tea doesn't mean that she has to be nice to him. He may growl all he likes.

"I can't help but notice," Yotsuki Kikyo begins. "That the Uchiha don't seem as spread out as the rest of us in this seating arrangement." It probably bothers him, because he has no way of knowing if Izuna's really blind, or just faking it for the dinner.

Madara-sama's grip on his chopsticks is too hard. He'll break them soon if he isn't careful.

"Kikyo-san." Kanae says. She has to distract Madara-sama somehow, because he's already tense, and tension makes it harder for her to work. "I can't help but notice that you seem dissatisfied with the seating arrangements."

The man leers at her, eyes carving a path up her flesh, over her chest and the curve of her neck. "I have a few ideas for how I could be satisfied." The look is disgusting and it makes her skin crawl.

Madara-sama's chopsticks snap. _Oh no. I tried this because I thought it would distract him from doing that._

She covers her killer's smile with the sleeve of her tomesode. "I'm afraid I would be very unsatisfied in those situations that you're imagining, Kikyo-san." _I can't imagine that you're particularly good at being satisfying._

 _I should kill your sister first in front of you, and then you afterwards after you've stained the air with your despair._

Tobirama snorts into his soup. "How crass."

Neesan's grip on her utensils is also tight, but Kanae squeezes her knee under the table, and she relaxes.

Hashirama blinks. "Wh-" He must have been off in a land of his own to not have noticed the sexually charged undertone at the table. Or maybe he's still pretending to be dumb. It is hard to tell.

"I apologize for my countryman." Imai cuts in. "But I believe we were speaking of peace accords between my village and yours?"

"Oh, peace!" Hashirama brightens. "But let's talk about peace later, and eat now! We've got a special delicacy tonight. Our visitors were so kind as to bring us wine from their country."

 _So he might actually be stupid._ Kanae considers the sealed bottle from across the table. There's no way of knowing if it's safe, or if it's a decoy.

Poisoning the wine would be too simple.

"Hashirama." Madara-sama glares at the bottle as if he's sure it's poison. "Put that away. No one wants to drink sake." It would be too simple to poison the sake.

"Oh, but this isn't sake." Yotsuki Kana says, while playing with her ring, voice soft, and eyes downcast. "Amazake is very special in the Land of Lightning, and it has very little alcohol content, if that is what you were concerned about, Uchiha-dono."

There's something about her that's fake. Kanae knows it, but she just can't put a finger on what it is. _She has to be more skilled than this, she has to be._

Well, she could always smell the amazake as it came around the table to see if she could detect the faint trace of amber. If not leaves of amber, which is Kawaki-san's specialty, she could always take a test sip to check for other poisons.

"Ah, stop being so worried, Madara." Hashirama chuckles. "I wasn't completely stupid. It's been tested and it's fine." _Is there someone else here who knows poisons?_ "Besides, if any of us suffer any problems, I doubt they'll escape Konoha alive." That's true at the very least.

It's highly unlikely that their guests would escape if only because Kanae would make sure that they die very painfully for trying something funny.

Madara glances at her. He looks frustrated.

She closes her eyes. _Has your eldest friend always been this stupid?_

Hashirama leans forward, and pours it for all of the guests at his table, starting with Yotsuki Kana pausing as he comes to Mito. "Darling?" Kanae takes the pause to surreptitiously sniff her share. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it.

 _It would have been too simple for it to have been the wine._

"Not tonight, Anata." Mito smiles. "Only tea for me." At least Neesan's paying attention to the dangers at the table now.

"Of course, Darling." Hashirama continues on.

Hashirama proposes a toast.

She can detect nothing wrong in the taste either, and she's fairly certain that her lip paint hasn't turned to black either or else Neesan would have gestured.

"See?" Yotsuki Kikyo murmurs sarcastically after no one starts convulsing. "A big fuss about nothing."

The night continues. It is not a big fuss about nothing. There's something wrong with this setup, Kanae's sure of it.

* * *

Two hours later, Hashirama and Tobirama are still drinking with the foreign men. Kanae's bored out of her mind, but at least the tensions bled out of Madara-sama's shoulders half an hour ago.

Izuna's talking to Neesan, but Kanae pays that conversation the bare minimum amount of attention. They can both take care of themselves, and Madara-sama's ready to move at any moment.

"So what's it like the Land of Lightning?" Hashirama asks, his laughter booming over the gathering. He tilts his chair back and waves his sake cup about.

Cup.

Something is wrong with that cup that he's holding.

Her eyes narrow.

"It storms a good deal." Imai responds. His cup is different. "We learn to make do."

There's something wrong with the cups.

The one in Hashirama's hand is not like the normal earthenware so commonly found in the Land of Fire.

Cups.

Tobirama's cup is different as well.

He hasn't been drinking at all, ever since the toast. Did he drink during the toast? She doesn't think so.

He raises it to his lips now though, and she smells it, the sickening sweet stench of leaves of amber.

"Don't-" She knocks it from his hand, and it shatters across the floor. "I can't believe that you would insult me so much." The table is basked in total silence for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Madara-sama go for his wakizashi. "To think that you would even attempt to use poison while I'm at the table." She's frustrated, frustrated that she didn't notice the switch earlier.

Now, it might be too late.

 _When could they possibly have changed the cups? Whe-Yotsuki Kikyo distracted me earlier._

 _They knew full well who I am._

And now Hashirama is pale, a hand over his chest, blood dripping from his chin. There's something like panic in his eyes. He looks all so human.

You cannot hate what is human. She rushes forward, because Hashirama is falling, and he cannot fall.

Kanae doesn't turn to look at Neesan. She doesn't think that she can bear it.

Neesan's chakra chains slam all three of the betrayers into the opposite wall. They'd broken guest right, and now Neesan's out to break all of their bones.

" _You._ " She snarls, and she looks like something risen from the deeps. Neesan isn't often angry, because she is patient and kind, but no longer.

Those who break guest right end up dead.

Madara-sama advances on them. "What the hell did you _do?_ " There is fear in his eyes, fear for Hashirama.

He cares. He cares so much that it's burning him to ash right before her eyes.

"Tobirama." This is his brother's life. He should be moving faster than this. "I need a basin of water." She pulls the net of pearls from her hair with a hand. Pearls are an excellent medicine. She'll need all the help she can get, because she did not think to bring an antidote with her.

She should have.

And not it's going to cost them. Her hands are green.

Neesan is a better medic, but Neesan has her hands full, so it will have to be her. It will have to be her.

Hashirama gasps under her hands, blood spilling from his lips, a horrifying scarlet, darker than her hair, darker than any blood has right to be. _How much did you drink? How did you not notice something-I didn't notice either._

"Hashi- _nii._.." So he does care about his brother, enough that seeing Hashirama on the verge of dying hurts and pulls at something in him.

Nevertheless, it is not enough to simply care. " _Now."_ He goes. Next order of business then. "Madara-sama?" Breathe. She has to breathe.

Madara-sama is staring at the three bodies on the other side of the room, something like madness in his eyes. She doesn't like seeing him like this.

She'd always known of course, that he is made of fire, but not like this. Not like this.

"Madara-sama!" He jolts, and she knows that he is no longer under the spell of bloodlust. "There is a black lacquer box on the fourth shelf of the kitchen cabinet. I need it. This isn't something I can cure without the antidote." Even with her box, it's unclear whether or not she has the antidote for leaves of amber.

She doesn't remember. Was it next to the cure for bloodsbane? Near wolfsheart? Next to the distilled blue stingers?

She doesn't know.

Hashirama gasps. "Imouto..." His eyes are unfocused, and his bleeding isn't stopping, no matter how much chakra she pushes.

 _More. More._

 _He needs more. Where is his chakra going so fast?_ It's bleeding out of his veins like blood congealing in his stomach.

She brushes his hair back away from his face. "Hush." She whispers. "You'll be alright." Faced with death, all men look like small boys.

And her heart is not hard enough to simply let him die. "How much of it did you drink, Hashirama-nii?"

His throat moves, but nothing comes out.

Izuna taps her on the shoulder. "I'm going to sit on the porch, Neesan. I'm useless here."

She nods at him before she remembers that he cannot see her, but he's already to the door by the time she realizes. He knows that she heard him.

Madara-sama is back with the box. She gestures for him to set it on the table next to her.

"You won't be able to save him. You don't have the antidote for this." Yotsuki Kana spits. "This was going to be a suicide mission anyway."

Kanae laughs, more hysterical than gleeful. "Who do you think I am?" She does nothing to hide her murder smile. _I might not be the Red Viper anymore, but I still have all the skills. Don't think crossing me will lead to an easy death._ "Besides, isn't your choice of technique just a little too crass?" It is the easiest to kill at the table, when guards are down, and hosts are kind.

It is much harder to destroy enemy camps when they all expect you.

"Poison is meant for killing." Yotsuki Kikyo grits. He's in pain, but it warms her heart to hear it. Neesan's chains cut him until the walls around him bleeds red.

No mercy. No mercy for those who would break guest right.

"Yes, but you've such low standards. Why murder one of us if you can manage the entire room of us?" She does not have the direct antidote for leaves of amber. No matter. Anger's burned fear from her veins. There is no place for fear here. The salt of Habiki-san's tears will do just as well as an antidote. No matter. "Not that you can kill the entire room of us. You haven't the skill." It takes skill to poison armies.

It doesn't take skill to take advantage of one man's kind and oblivious nature. He clearly isn't stupid, but he isn't vicious either.

Not cruel hearted enough to recognize trickery when he should see it. It doesn't take much skill to poison a trusting man.

The water hisses and steams. Normally, Habiki-san's tears are poisonous, but some poisons counteract others, and at the moment, Hashirama-nii is poisoned. She uses her hand to bring the water to Hashirama-nii's lips. "It won't solve everything. I'll have to do this more thoroughly later, but you won't be dead at the end of the night, yes?"

Hashirama nods weakly, and says nothing. _Good. He's still self aware._

"Mito-neesan. Who are you?" Tobirama seems to have finally caught on to the idea that they are more than they appear.

"Uzumaki Mito." Neesan snaps back at them. "And if you would Otouto, please find something to tie our prisoners with. I have no desire to hold them forever." That she says so...she doesn't have as much chakra as she used to then.

Kanae reminds herself to keep it in mind for future pregnancies of her own. Growing children saps chakra.

"Madara-sama?" He appears, as pale as beach sand, bloodless and wooden. "Hold Hashirama-nii's shoulders?" This next bit will require more. He does as he is told without a word.

The captives are carted off, and Neesan is her normal self again, if more frantic. "Kanae, what's his situation?"

"Fine, Neesan." She pulls out a hairpin. It is not sharp enough for what she wants to do, but she cannot try to draw the poison out of his blood with metal. Her knives are not made of bone. The hairpin will have to do. She sanitizes it in the steaming water and drives it through the acupuncture point right above his heart.

The poison must not reach his heart, or it will corrupt his entire chakra system and then he's truly dead.

He cries out, but Madara-sama holds him down. "He'll live." Madara-sama looks like he has to hear it. She's regained her center.

She can see the path to completion now.

"What are you doing to my brother?" Tobirama cuts in. She hears the fear in his voice, but she hasn't the time to spare to soothe him. She has to finish this, and soon.

Hashirama-nii's blood is turning black.

"Saving him." She snaps. "Don't touch anything unless you want him to die." She draws a distillation seal over the heart meridian on Hashirama-nii's chest.

For most seals, Neesan knows better, but this is her strength. Neesan doesn't even dabble in poisons.

The background noise fades away. She takes a breath. Neesan's hand joins hers.

The chakra between them pulls and swells like the tide. The poison separates itself from blood, pooling in the palm of her hand. She lets it drip into a crystal vial, so she can look at it later.

There isn't much of it, but it's enough to kill ten men.

Senju Hashirama must live a charmed life not to have died after the first sip if this is the dosage they gave him. His eyes fall closed, and his breathing evens.

Neesan sags against the table, breathing hard. "Mito-neesan?" Tobirama is by her side in an instant. She won't kill him. He cares for Neesan when she can't. She'll forgive him of his former slights.

Her head spins. "Madara-sama?" She can do more than this on a normal day. She's barely capable of standing straight right now, she's burned so much chakra. "Help me move Hashirama-nii to his bed?"

Worse, the poison's still trying to eat more chakra despite how carefully she's bottled it and kept it away from her other vials.

She'll study how leaves of amber is made later. She's always wanted to know. Right now though, now she is tired.

* * *

"When will he waking up?" Tobirama asks while helping Neesan into a seat. "Why is he asleep? What did you do? How did you know what to do? What is that box? Who are you?" It's twenty questions now.

Her ears are still ringing. She breathes in. She breathes out. "One question at a time." Her hands tremble nervelessly in her lap. "He will wake up sometime rather shortly. I am uncertain exactly. He is asleep because the poison is corrosive to chakra, and it's consumed a good deal of his energy. Did I miss anything?" She hopes she hasn't, but she isn't sure.

He's asked rather fast, and her mind is cloudy.

"Who _are you._ " Tobirama says once again, and it is not a question.

Her headache is splitting. _Why does he have to be so irritating even when he's trying to do good?_

"Tobirama." Neesan sees her tiredness though. Neesan sees and shields her from having to speak. "We are the daughters of Uzumaki Ashina."

Madara-sama's hands are warm on her shoulders. So warm. His fire's not gone away then.

"Formerly the Red Viper." She looks up at Tobirama and sees the understanding in his eyes. Her tongue trips on to continue explaining. "And in Uzu, I strongly considered removing you from my sister's life permanently."

Tobirama pales. "What."

"Consider it Neesan's mercy to have drawn the gravity seal on your chest." Kanae looks away. She doesn't want to see the fear bleed from him. She's seen enough of it tonight. She'd nearly broken guest right that night over a fit of trivial jealousy. She's not much better than the woman who is presumably rotting in a Senju prison at this moment. "I might have passed you a drink otherwise, and knowing you, you would have taken it without a second thought."

She reaches for Madara-sama. He is still behind her, she knows it by the warmth of his hands. "Madara-sama, would you like to stay?"

He is silent for a long moment, so long that she's not sure he heard her. "Where's Izuna?" Panic is a forest fire burning through every word from his mouth. Guilt scours his soul, she feels him tremble under the weight of an impossible question.

She pulls him down. "Madara-sama." His head is on her shoulder. Her hands are in his hair. He is shaking, like a ship in a storm, shuddering to pieces beneath her hands. "Izuna-kun is sitting outside on the porch, highly concerned about everything, but attempting to stay out of the way so we don't accidentally trample him."

Izuna has said so, so he better be there.

"I thought-" He sounds so small.

He'll remember himself later, and the shame will be terrible, which is why she stops him with a finger over his lips.

"I know what you thought." He clings to her every word as though it is gospel. "But Izuna-kun is fine, and you didn't lose him."

It is enough for him. He climbs to his feet. "A-"

"Mito? Tobi?" Hashirama-nii wakes up.

And he's disoriented, so of course he asks first for his brother, and she supposes that it's alright that he asks for his wife next, but he does not ask for Madara-sama.

He'd called Madara-sama his eldest friend just earlier this night, but he does not ask for him.

Madara-sama pulls her to her feet. "There is no need to stay."

The rough pain in his voice is undeniable, but perhaps she's the only one listening to him.

She stumbles, and he pulls her up, as though he's carrying a bride. Her head droops against his shoulder.

Her arms are looped around his neck.

Izuna rises when he hears them coming. He doesn't ask about what went on inside the house.

Kanae suspects that he can guess.

They go home.

* * *

 **A.N.** A very long chapter in which we cover Kanae's perception of the whole poison dilemma. That, and I do love characters who recognize their own emotional state. *Cough* *Cough* Madara never recognizes much of anything about his emotional state.

Thank you so much to Scarease, Malyss64 (My interpretation of Madara is a bit different than general fandom, but I'm glad you like it!), kuppcake, bunnyguest (We do get to see Mito again. And yeah, Kanae's starting to realize that this life might not be so easy as she thought.), Elise142 (It was more a poll on how much everyone wanted the other characters like Hashirama and Izuna and Mito and the rest, but I'm glad you like the split perspective!), OneWhoReadsTooMuch (I'm glad. I've always thought that pretty much all the characters in Naruto are complex people. And quite frankly, I feel like Madara tried not to go psychotic, and he tried very hard but he couldn't do it by himself.), stubs1101 (Mmm. That is a valid point, though I do love reinterpreting scenes from multiple perspectives.), lizyeh2000 (Happy belated birthday!), Angelcorus, Fey (The full names of the youkai are first clan name, Anharaya, then prominence of clan, atawa, then the connecting 'no', and then given name. So Anharya-atawa no Kyoya is actually Kyoya of the Revered Noble Clan Anharaya. But it's mostly made up and only bears slight resemblance to the Japanese language.) and CrystalVixen93 for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited and followed.

~Tavina.


	11. Easy Kill

**I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"You will ask for a match, and I will give you a wildfire.

I don't know how to love small."

-Erin Van Vuren

* * *

Madara-sama stumbles when he crosses the doorway, and somehow he sways like a drunkard. He catches himself, but still, it almost frightens her. He sets her down in silence and collapses onto a chair near her sewing table.

Izuna stops walking after them, but she still wants to make sure that he's alright. She follows him out. "Izuna?"

He stops. "You should go back in, Neesan. Niisan isn't..."

He means to say that Madara-sama is unhappy with the events of the night.

Still, she has to persist, because both of the men she lives with are dramatic. "I wanted to check that you were alright."

He smiles at her, politely. "I'm fine." He's not happy. He's just trying to make sure that she goes back in.

"You're not fine." She catches him by the wrist as he tries to leave. "Why?" She stretches her remaining chakra a little. He doesn't seem to have been physically affected by the poison at the table tonight. It is something else then.

Izuna sighs. "Hashirama-san slighted Niisan again, didn't he?"

She nods once before she remembers that he doesn't register such things. "Yes." Hashirama-nii had not mentioned Madara-sama when he woke up again from a near death experience. It has to have hurt.

"He's always doing that." Izuna shakes off her hand. "That's why I'm not fine and why you should go back in."

He wants her to not leave Madara-sama alone. She can understand that. "Alright." She watches as he trudges down the hall. "Izuna?" She calls after him. "Madara-sama will be fine. I will make sure of it."

He raises a hand to show that he's heard and continues onward. She steps back into the room. He'll be alright.

Madara-sama is not sitting by her sewing table when she returns. Instead, he's sitting on the edge of the futon, his hands in his lap, and his shoulders hunched.

He does not turn to her, though she's sure he's heard her come in. On this night, it looks like he's carrying the weight of the world. "You got rid of all the sake in the house, didn't you?"

After the events of the night, she doubts that he wants to drink. She still remembers what he'd done to himself the last time.

She does not tell him that she's simply relocated the sake to the bottom left cabinet shelf in the kitchen, where presumably he won't check, because it's next to the cleaning supplies.

She sits down next to him and leans her head against his shoulder. "Come to bed, Madara-sama." She touches his face without actually meaning to, and how easily she falls deeper makes her hands tremble, and her heart ache. _Obaasan, was this what you meant when you told me to be careful?_

"If I could stop, I would." He sounds so _tired._ "I don't want-" _Do you?_

"You do, still." She whispers, and her hand traces the twisting scar over his side. She could cry, could, but she is the stupid one. _Who told me to love a man who already said that he can't love me? Obaasan told me to be careful, but I wasn't careful. I don't have the right to feel bruised and sad._ "He is a ghost in this room tonight."

Senju Hashirama does not know what he has. Senju Hashirama will most likely never realize, and that thought could drive her mad.

Madara-sama sighs. "How long will you wait for me?" _Wait for you? Forever._

Hope is a terrible thing sometimes. It whispers in the depths of her mind and tells her not to give up yet. Not yet. Not yet. He could still change. Hold on longer, and perhaps his heart will change, will decide to love-

She is young and stupid, and on any other night, she wouldn't think of it this way. _The heart wants what it wants, and we cannot change that._

She couldn't stop loving him if she tried. She doubts he'd be able to do what her heart cannot.

"Madara-sama." She huffs against his shoulder, voice hoarse. She could cry, but that would change nothing. "Shut up, and go to sleep." She pulls him back down on the futon and throws an arm and a leg over him possessively. He might still think of Hashirama-nii, but it is not Hashirama-nii who is by his side.

She'll take what she can get. What had he said before? _How long will you wait for me?_ Where had his mind gone to come up with a statement like that? Did he expect her to leave?

What can she do to persuade him that she will not leave?

She's using his chest as a pillow, and his heart stutters beneath her hand. _You are fond of me, and you respect me. That is enough. I don't need more from you._ "I know you don't believe in much anymore." Faith is not for tired men like him, but still he clings to it admirably. "But accept that the gods have given you a miracle and don't question it." _You're still alive, Madara-sama._

 _Do not forget that you've still so much happiness to feel._

 _The dead cannot be happy. Don't be such a... "_ Dramatic man..." _Madara-sama... "_ Forgive yourself." _P_ _lease._

* * *

The morning sun on her face makes her eyes hurt, and she's fallen asleep wrapped in something warm. "Mmm." In her half awake state, it feels like the summer sea, as though she's sleeping on a peaceful sea in the rise and fall of the waves.

But the sun is still in her eyes, and she tries to move away from it.

"It is too early." _What?_ Her surroundings close in. "Stay." _Madara-sama?_

She opens one eye to check where she actually is. Oh.

What had she done last night to fall asleep with her head on his chest? Surely, he has to have a faceful of her hair right now.

She'd thought the rise and fall of his breathing as comforting as the waves.

Oh. She pushes herself up so that she can brush her hair away from his face. "Madara-sama?" She knows that he's awake, or at least, half there because he'd spoken to her earlier. He opens one eye and stares at her almost as if he's seeing something new. "Are you alright?" Her hand pauses over his forehead, and she blinks at him.

He is so very much alive.

For a moment, everything is still. And then he _laughs,_ mirth and cheer and a thousand other good things in his gaze as he stares at her. Her heart flips.

He kisses each of her fingertips in turn, his breathy laughter still bubbling past his lips. "More than alright." He tells her. "I have not been so alright in a long time."

She flushes and pulls her hand away. "Madara-sama!" _How can anyone be so beautiful?_ He looks so happy.

He sits up, and leans over her shoulder, arms locked around her waist. "I embarrassed you?" His lips graze her shoulder, and he does not stop laughing. "I am sorry-Izuna has told me that there is nothing that can embarrass you?" So Madara-sama is right.

Izuna is a horrible gossip. She supposes he knows his brother better than she does.

"When I fell asleep yesterday," She leans into his hold and wonders what it would be like for him to be so content all the time. _You were so lost yesterday._ "You were not this happy." What had caused him to change? This morning he is almost giddy. "Did good news reach you during the night?" She can't imagine what sort of news would have made him this happy.

 _Did Hashirama-nii apologize for ignoring you while sobbing a river? Did you dream about pressing Tobirama's head to the ground and grinding dirt into his mouth? Did you win election for Hokage in your dreams?_

 _Can Izuna see again?_

 _What's made you so happy?_

"You told me you were a gift from the gods." He rumbles from beside her.

"I did?" She blinks. _When did I say-Accept that the gods have given you a miracle...Did he think that I meant me?_ "That was not intentional." That is embarrassing. She did not mean to give him that impression. Didn't-but he'd taken it that way.

"Mmmm..." He shifts, and sighs. "You did."

"I am sorry." It would be easier to reach him if he weren't behind her, sunning himself on her shoulder like a very large cat. "Arrogance was certainly not my intention."

He huffs. "But you are a gift." He pulls her back down and rests his head between her shoulder blades. He seems to like it there. "My gift. My hope. My wife. Mine."

 _Yours._ What she wouldn't give-well, he has said that she is his. She giggles. _Are you really not the descendant of a nekomata? If you aren't why do you act like this?_ "As you say."

He prods her stomach with a finger. "You do not believe me." Oh no. She's made him grumpy. She can almost see his pout, the pressed together downturn of his lips, the lighting sparking in his dark eyes. "You are my gift."

"For what occasion, Madara-sama?" And now did he come to this conclusion? Why does it make him so happy to think that she belongs with him? Why?

"My birthday." He sighs, content with the way he sees the world.

"Izuna said that your birthday is the 24th of December?" She turns and pokes his cheek, and doesn't move her finger away. "Aren't I a little early then?" He looks so disgruntled it is almost funny. It is August now, so she is four months early.

"I don't care." He sounds like a displeased cat.

She taps the end of his nose, and giggles as he goes cross-eyed trying to follow her finger. "Little boy."

"I am not a little boy." He frowns at her while still cross-eyed."I am _not_."

"Of course, you aren't, Madara-sama." If she doesn't say it quickly she'll be laughing too hard and that might actually make him _cross._

"You did not find me particularly... _little._ " Oh, no. He guesses.

She sits up and does her best not to laugh. It doesn't work "I won't say it again, Madara-sama." She gasps words between breaths and watches him through her fingers. "You are a dark and fearsome-oh this is ridiculous. You are a dark and fearsome w-warrior of great renown."

He still looks too happy for words. "Much better." He turns over and mumbles the next words into the pillow. "I like that much better."

She leans over and kisses his temple. "We have to deal with the hostages, Madara-sama." She turns the thoughts over in her head and remembers that he would like them poisoned. Thus, she should make sure to do so.

It will involve some preparation.

"Five more minutes." He pulls the pillow over his head. "Armor me up then."

"What do you take me for, Madara-sama?" Sometimes she wonders if he knows how to cook at all, or what the kitchen is for. "Breakfast does take a little longer than five minutes, you know."

He makes a vague sound of approval, but he does not reply.

When she looks back over her shoulder, he's asleep again.

* * *

She pulls out her box and considers her options, while the soup bubbles cheerfully over the stove. _What can't Kawaki Saemon treat?_ Her chakra levels are still lower than she would like them to be, but that's less of a problem.

Normally, she wouldn't want to make enemies, and Kawaki-san of the Valley of Light and Shadow is very good at his craft. He just seems to have miscalculated this time, underestimated the extent of her anger.

Madara-sama would prefer them poisoned, and it's never been her training to simply slit throats. She considers it carefully. _What can't he cure?_ Just to be safe, because then his disciples won't be able to manage it either.

The soup bubbles over, and she whirls away to care for it.

"You're distracted today, Neesan." Izuna murmurs as he raises his teacup to his lips.

"I was thinking." She replies. "But someone should wake Madara-sama up. We'll be late otherwise." She had not left Neesan and Hashirama-nii in good condition last night, and she doesn't trust the rest of the Senju clan overmuch.

Maybe it's because all the representatives she's met are stupid.

Izuna nods and rises. "I'll do it."

She and Madara-sama walk to the Senju Compound after breakfast, her hand on his arm. She'd forgotten to pick a vial. All she has is her knives, and herself, she supposes., but she is low on chakra. _Chakra._

Shishou had taught her chakra poisoning last year.

She has enough chakra for that. Most poisoners are incapable of treating chakra poisoning, and Kawaki Saemon is no different.

Chakra poisoning it is.

"Madara-sama?" She asks. Now that she knows what to do, it is easier to pay attention. "Please let me ask the prisoners a question before they are executed?"

"It is unclear that they will be executed." That...is surprising. Madara-sama sounds sufficiently grumpy about it, though she still isn't entirely sure why the prisoners wouldn't be punished.

Were it in Uzu, Chichi would have them whipped in the public square, bathed in salt water, and then beheaded. Perhaps they do it differently here.

"They attempted murder last night, and would have succeeded, had Neesan and I not acted quickly enough." She thinks about it. _Do the other clans not follow the lead of the Uchiha and the Senju? Would another clan want to question them to determine motives first?_ "Who would prevent their deaths?"

"I am aware." Madara-sama sighs. _Frustrated then. Why?_ "However, Hashirama is an idiot."

So it is Hashirama-nii who would want to prevent an execution. She's not entirely sure why.

"I was aware." She tells him, because it is funny to mimic his words sometimes, only to watch the lightning spark in his eyes. "From before the moment he stepped foot into my father's halls in Uzu. I was not aware that he was at this level of idiocy though." And it is frustrating that Hashirama-nii would be so committed to peace that he would argue for the lives of people who had wanted to kill him.

"And why did you dislike him so much before he even stepped foot on your shores?" Thankfully, Madara-sama remains upbeat despite their heavy conversation.

"He was going to take Neesan away." She shrugs. "What am I to do, if not to dislike the man that takes my only sister away from the world that loves her? He is only a man like any other man in this world, and compared to Neesan's other suitors, he had only a matchstick city to his name."

"Konoha is a matchstick city?" Too late, she remembers that she cannot speak freely of everything to Madara-sama, that on occasion he hears a phrase and twists it to the darkest possible meaning. He thinks it is Konoha's and by extension, _his_ fault.

He loves this city, and he does not think that she likes it here.

"No." She looks at him, at the frown on his lips, the darkness in his eyes, and is not afraid. _He is not mad. He is only so easily wounded._ "It means more to that to those who live here." They step past the gates of the Senju Compound. "My insults toward your city have more to do with how Senju Hashirama wrote my sister bad poetry before making himself more important to her than me."

"You are jealous of your sister's husband." Jealous of Hashirama-nii? Oh, horribly.

She's horribly jealous of him for holding Madara-sama's heart a little more than Neesan's, but that is neither here nor there.

"It was hardly your fault." She tosses her hair over her shoulder. _It is hardly your fault that you love him._ And that morning, in the face of his good mood from earlier, because of everything, three words linger and crawl up her throat so slowly that she can taste them. _I love you._ "You are important to me."

But that would hurt him. Speaking so would hurt him.

"You don't have to tell me so." The look in his eyes is fond. He looks at her so fondly. "I will provide the distraction." He says as he steps forward to knock on the door. "Ask your questions."

"Thank you, Madara-sama." What had she been waiting for? Him to say 'I love you?'

She shakes her head to clear the thoughts away. _Don't think of it this way. Don't._

It's Tobi-baka who opens the door. Sure, he doesn't look good, but he isn't supposed to. His brother had nearly been killed yesterday, and his sister-in-law is tired.

He's not supposed to look good. She's decided that she won't kill him, but that doesn't mean that she's supposed to like him or anything.

He pitches forward. "How is Neesan?" She asks and catches him by the elbow. He is worse than he looks then.

She wonders if he slept at all. Perhaps he does love Hashirama-nii. Perhaps he's just a gruffer version of Izuna. It is hard to hate what is human.

"She's asleep still." He is tired when he raises his eyes to Madara-sama who is behind her. "Hello, Uchiha."

"Senju." Madara-sama crosses his arms and glares, but Tobirama says nothing. It is an unusual occurrence from what she can understand.

Tobirama continues to stumble and she follows after him with a hand on his elbow to make sure that he doesn't break his face. It would cause more problems than it solved to let him take a tumble again.

Madara-sama follows with heavy footsteps, radiating something not exactly like disapproval. Fear. What could he possibly fear?

Ah. Right. What was it that he said... _relish that Tobirama never will..._ does he fear that she'd like Tobi-baka more than him?

He should know that it is impossible, that she doesn't even like Tobi-baka very much, but that she _loves_ him. But he says nothing, so she has to distract Tobirama from the glowering cloud of darkness behind them somehow.

"And what about Hashirama-nii?" She knows vaguely where to go, but Tobirama is an alright enough guide.

"Unwell." Tobirama slides the door open with shaking hands. "But he is, as you said, not dead." _Well, he's not going to recover in a day, you know._

"Mada?" Hashirama-nii seems awake enough, propped up on his pillows. Neesan has her head on his lap, her arms wrapped firmly around his middle though she's still sitting on a chair fast asleep. _She loves him so._

Who else would worry Neesan so much that she would spend the night here without even a bed?

"Idiot." Madara-sama spits as he stalks forward. "I told you, _told you_ that this would happen, but did you listen? Do you ever listen to me? Do you ever listen to anyone?" He leans in, his face an inch away from Hashirama-nii's, worry swirling in his eyes. "Do you not understand that you are the _last friend I have in this world?_ Do you not see the depths of your own stupidity?"

"Mada..." Hashirama leans away a little.

"Stop talking so loud." Neesan stares at the source of all the noise. "I did not fall asleep here..." She glances around the room blearily. "To be woken by your undignified screeching not two hours later."

"Neesan." Yes, perhaps Madara-sama shouldn't have been so loud, but he's been worried all night. "Forgive him. Hashirama-nii gave us quite the scare yesterday."

"Hashirama-nii?" Hashirama-nii blinks and beams so wide she's surprised that his face doesn't split in half."You want to call me Hashirama-nii? You consented? Kanae-chan! I heard from Tobi that you were the one to make sure I didn't end up dead! I have to thank you." Too late, she remembers how annoying he is.

How much he wants to call her imouto, and almost groans at the thought of it.

It is so lucky for him that Neesan prevents him from continuing that train of thought.

"Hashi-baka." She shifts her position in Hashirama's lap, and raps his forehead with her knuckles. "Do not make us have to save you again." And then Neesan promptly falls back to sleep.

She reminds herself that Neesan is tired, that she didn't mean to-maybe she didn't, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt somewhat to be ignored.

"I'm sorry I made you worry Mada, but it really wasn't that dangerous!" She's ninety-five percent certain that Hashirama-nii is not certifiably the village idiot, but this is pushing it a little.

Madara-sama certainly thinks that he's serious.

"Wasn't that dangerous? Wasn't that dangerous?" Tobirama whisper screams him. "Niisan do you want me to kill you myself?" He scrubs his face with his hands. "For once I agree with the Uchiha. You are an idiot. And you never seem to listen to anyone." So Tobirama thinks that his brother's serious as well.

Maybe Hashirama-nii is really that stupid, or maybe he's been pretending for so long that it is all he knows.

She pats Tobi-baka on the shoulder. "It seems to be a trend for elder siblings, Tobi- _nii._ "

Tobirama looks up at her, horribly frustrated, and she almost laughs at him. "I am not your _Tobi-nii._ "

She moves on, because the sick man is more important. "You need bed rest." Knowing the two other men in the room, they'd not agree. "This means that everyone else is clearing out, and Hashirama-nii is going to _go to sleep._ "

None of them agree in fact. She reminds them that she is Uzumaki Kanae by showing more teeth. The Viper doesn't back down.

Three sets of jaws click shut. The sound is satisfying.

Tobi-baka and Madara-sama troop out into the hallway and stand about glaring at each other.

"Well?" She follows them out. "Shouldn't we discuss what to do with the prisoners without Hashirama-nii's bleeding heart?"

Tobi-baka nods grimly. "That is an excellent idea." _All of my ideas are excellent._

 _Including the one where I murder all three of them without including you in the discussion._

* * *

Half an hour later finds them in the cells in the Senju Compound, conspicuously empty except for the three had nearly succeeded in committing murder last night. There are seals painted on them though.

Uzu seals.

"Mito-neesan had to come in and restrain them again when they tried to escape."

She's slapped Tobi-baka before she even thinks that she wants to do it, something like a storm brewing in her chest. "How could you make her do this?" _Neesan's already tired. Why don't you have anyone more competent in this entire clan?_

Tobi-baka blinks and touches his cheek like he doesn't believe what just happened to him. "What?"

"You couldn't even restrain them properly?" She clenches her hands but keeps them by her side so that she doesn't break his face. "You made Neesan come down here and deal with it when she was already exhausted?" Neesan had done enough last night without having to worry about her stupid husband's would be murderers. "Are you or are you not _incompetent, Senju?_ " She roars, and the sound echoes on the walls.

She wants to scream louder than a squall, wants to keep screaming until Tobi-baka's ears bleed.

Madara-sama sets his chin on the top of her head and pulls her in. "It does no good now." He squeezes her hand, and she remembers that it's best not to be so angry.

"You aren't really the person to tell me this, Madara-sama." He's really not one to advocate for serenity in the face of frustration. Stubbing his toe on the doorframe causes a string of curses to fall out of his lips, but he's trying to help her. "But yes, it is over."

"What are we going to do with the prisoners?" Tobirama blinks and returns to the topic. _Madara-sama would like them poisoned._

"I need to ask them a question first." She needs to get close enough to touch them for chakra poisoning. It won't take long. The space of one or two questions, nothing more.

"Fine. Ask your questions." Tobirama leans against the opposite wall. "The room's not soundproof though."

Her eyebrow rises. "It is not as if I am going in to ask if Yotsuki-san is _satisfied._ " Whatever she has to ask is going to be small talk anyway. If they know what's good for them, they won't spill any of their teacher's secrets, if not, well, better for her.

She steps through the door and it swings shut behind her.

"So, you are the disciple of Kawasaki-san." She examines Yotsuki Kana first. "His standards have dropped." The other woman snarls at her, but Kanae isn't the one chained to a wall. She didn't fail, but Yotsuki Kana did.

"You know you're dead." She reaches up for a moment to stroke the other woman's face. Chakra pulses on her fingertips. She injects it into the vein beneath the jaw. Yotsuki Kana's face is blank. "You know very well."

She moves on to the other man. "Guest right is important you know." She murmurs, studying her hands. Chakra poisoning is a subtle art to get right. Most people react badly to foreign chakra invading their systems, but it isn't fatal unless it's twisted in such a way that it is impossible to break down, and injected into a blood vessel. "You shouldn't violate it."

Once a mass of foreign chakra is injected into the bloodstream it finds and blocks off the valves of the heart, moving very slowly. It is an effective torture method as well, because only the original caster can remove the mass. The silent man says nothing. He gets his injection in his arm.

Chakra poisoning is not subtle.

Kawaki-san will know exactly who killed them. She's left her signature over her chakra, clear and crisp.

She moves on to Yotsuki Kikyo next. He's pale, but smirking.

"Do you know that your husband doesn't love you?" He asks.

She traces a finger down the side of his face and wonders where to put the injection. Where it would best hurt him later.

At the moment, she doesn't think they know that they've been poisoned. "Tell me about leaves of amber." She says, looking absently off to the side. "And I shall persuade my husband to let you go."

False of course. They all three of them are dead.

"I can't imagine that it'll make you like him at all." Yotsuki Kikyo's breath is hot against her ear. "I imagine that you weren't able to fully treat Senju Hashirama, and that's why you're asking." His smile is delighted.

It makes her blood boil. "But I'm not an idiot, Uzu woman. You'll get nothing from me even if you flay me alive."

She's decided then. She brushes her fingers over his abdomen. His death will be the slowest.

"You know nothing about my husband, betrayer." She smiles her murder smile, and he goes pale.

She turns away from him. Her job here is done.

* * *

 **A.N.** So shorter chapter this time. (On the upside, Moonrise is catching up to Sunfall, and it's getting less confusing to switch between timelines. On the downside, my writing time is getting severely limited.)

Thanks so much to LittleMissSugarLess, CrystalVixen93, Elise142 (Don't worry. Sometimes the site's weird...), Guest (I'm glad you liked it!), stubs1101, OneWhoReadsTooMuch (Yeah, Kanae thinks Hashirama's idiocy is a front and that he's secretly a genius, which might be true to an extent...but she puts up with him because he makes other people happy.), HayaaShigure-kun (See, the thing with that is that it would involve Madara becoming proactive about his feelings, which is difficult for him.), and Estelle Lumene (I'm happy you like Uzu. Honestly, I feel like I'm super fond of it as well, despite most of it being headcanon...) for reviewing!

And everyone else who favorited and followed.

~Tavina


	12. Like the Sun

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"Your dreams are all of war"

-Wetlands, j.m.

* * *

She steps out of the cell, and dusts off her hands. Chakra poisoning always makes her skin crawl afterward. "So, how are we killing them?" That's not exactly what she means, since they are dying anyway, whether or not Hashirama consents, but it is best to put on the pretense now in front of Tobirama. Let him think he has a say in the matter.

Unless they drag Neesan into the conversation, her particular secret kill will remain a secret for now.

"What was your question?" Tobi-baka still thinks she had questions to ask that could not be answered otherwise. "And why did you need to ask them anything before we kill them? We know that they're guilty already."

She smiles. "I wanted to know _why._ " Which is true enough, though she didn't need to see the prisoners again to think of why Kawaki Saemon would approve of an apprentice going to Konoha and breaking guest right. Perhaps he doesn't know that she's moved. Now he does. And now he will lose what he holds dear, both an apprentice and a trade secret. He shouldn't have made this gambit. "And now I know why."

"Why what?" Tobi-baka takes a step forward in frustration. She watches the tension in his frame carefully. She doesn't want to fight him, not now. He is stronger than she is when both parties are bracing for it. She works best unexpected. "We already know why they want to kill Hashirama-nii!"

Madara-sama steps between her and Tobirama radiating a quiet fury. She blinks. _I should have expected it. Madara-sama didn't like Tobi-baka much to begin with, and now, he has more reason to be jealous._ Still, there's a part of her that does not expect it. "They want to end Konoha!"

"Madara-sama." She sets a hand on his elbow, and he turns back to look at her, a question in his eyes. "I'll answer Tobi-nii's question." It drives Tobi-baka up the wall to be called Tobi-nii. It's why she does it. "It is after all, a valid question."

"I am not your Tobi-nii!" Ah, yes. There it is. The angry outburst to distract Madara-sama's bad mood.

"Of course you aren't, Tobi-nii." She waves away his concerns, and Madara-sama almost smiles. It is good that he smiles. "At any rate, I didn't want to know about the destruction of Konoha. I wanted to know why Kawasaki Saemon decided to show his hand when he knew that I would be at the dinner table, and what prompted him to break guest right." _He's sold himself and the people under him for money and protection._

 _That's rich for someone who claimed not to need it before._

Tobirama blinks. "You know the person behind this?"

"I do know the prominent teachers of my trade." It's as if he's surprised by everything she does. Madara-sama might have said that Uchiha women don't fight, and she knows that Senju women do, but it still feels like Tobi-baka is the one who consistently underestimates her, and Madara-sama the one who has faith. "I have to admit that I didn't expect this level of proficiency from his youngest disciple." She'd been distracted by a quip from Yotsuki Kikyo's lips about satisfaction and forgotten that there was more than one poisoner at the table.

She'd spent the last few months becoming a housewife. She's falling behind.

She's not sure how to feel about it. But set that thought aside for now.

"The Yotsuki woman is his youngest disciple?" Madara-sama asks, while observing the three still strung up in their cell. They should begin to feel it now, a slight feeling of something crawling in their blood.

She surveys them with disinterest. "Kawasaki Saemon's standards have dropped. He's sold his honor for money. That's all I can say." The Guild's ashamed to have someone like him.

"So that's all you wanted to know?" Tobi-baka groans. "Kami save us all from the curiosity of women."

"May I remind you," She pins him casually with her murder smile. "That it was this woman and her sister who saved your brother from certain death last night?" It feels as though she's writing characters at low tide. Senju Tobirama forgets her so easily that it is almost insulting.

She reminds herself that she is not supposed to kill him. He's good to Neesan. He doesn't have to be good to her. It works less well than she wants it to. Senju Tobirama is very good at getting under other people's skins.

There are light footsteps out in the hallway.

Tobi-baka shifts uneasily on his feet. "How are we killing them? We have to do this quickly."

Hashirama-nii appears in the doorway. He's disobeying her orders of bed rest then, because he's figured out their plans. She knew he wasn't dumb. "Hashirama-nii, why are you out of bed?" How sad for his dream of peace that she's already as good as killed them and nothing he can do will make her reverse it.

"You will do no such thing. Let them go." He's heard the end of their conversation. He's entirely serious. Madara-sama was right. He's insane, but not of the goofy sort. A serious Senju Hashirama is far worse than a well meaning madman.

For the first time, she wonders how dangerous Senju Hashirama is. He hides it well most of the time, but his words are a naked blade.

"You can't possibly mean that Niisan!" Tobirama throws up his hands. "You've gone mad."

 _As I thought. He shows this side of him rarely, so little that even his brother is surprised by it. How many depths do you have, Senju Hashirama? How deep does your mind go?_

"I am not mad. I'm telling you that I am letting them go." There's a note of command in his voice that she's only heard in the words of kings.

 _Are you planning on being a king, Senju Hashirama?_ She's met two kings. Her father. Habiki-san. Both aren't prone to commanding, and neither it seems, is Senju Hashirama.

"No one is going to listen to you." Madara-sama crosses his arms over his chest, steps forward and descends into a darkness so deep that she can feel it rolling from him in waves. Anger, misery, pain, grief, madness, rage.

He lingers close.

She's never felt this from him before, this vengeful madness. _Do I love him still, despite this?_

 _Perhaps I do._

 _Perhaps I always will._

Hashirama-nii doesn't bat an eye despite his injured state. Madara-sama's anger doesn't seem to even ruffle his serenity. "You have to listen to me." He pulls himself up using the doorframe, every word driving deeper into Madara-sama's heart. He doesn't seem to notice. Even worse, he doesn't seem to care. "We cannot have war. If we kill the ambassadors for any reason, there will be war."

Madara-sama's teetering, but Hashirama-nii doesn't extend a hand to pull him back. _He's considering more than just a friend or his own life._

 _He's considering the lives of everyone in this village._

 _For once in his life, he should at least pretend to be selfish._

"They ought to be begging us not to kill them." It is what her father would have done. Chichi is dedicated to peace, to making sure that his people do not march to war, but he would at least make other nations grovel to have their subjects back. He would not roll over and expose his weaknesses or his hesitancy to march. He would make their release seem like mercy instead of obligation. "They were the ones to broke the peace." But that is if he has to release them.

Most likely at least one of them would be beheaded by now to remind the Land of Lightning to pay the tithe and receive the other two. It is why Uzu doesn't fear outsiders.

Despite their attempt at human culture, their youkai roots run deep. Savagery is in their blood.

Perhaps it is best to remind Senju Hashirama that his bride is _Uzu,_ that Neesan despite all her giddiness and kindness, despite her gentle courtesies and disinclination for killing, is still more than an eighth youkai.

"That doesn't matter." Hashirama-nii leans on Tobirama's shoulder. Tobi-baka lets his brother do it as if he's used to it. "If we kill them and string them up on the walls like I know Madara wants to, then they'll march on us." His words are still driving Madara-sama closer to snapping.

She wonders if he knows it but doesn't know how to stop it, or sadder still, doesn't know that his words are kunai cutting more scars over Madara-sama's weeping heart, or sadder still, he knows and he doesn't know how or doesn't care to stop it.

She watches Madara-sama, watches his hunched shoulders, his clenched and shaking hands, the way his hair sweeps over his face so that his eyes are in shadow.

She steps between them. Perhaps it would help with his grief. "Then let them come." She raises her chin. "Do you think I'm afraid of them? _Let them come._ " They ought to know who they're messing with.

They ought to know not to attack Konoha again. A stitch in time saves nine. A death in time saves nine.

"It would be more than just your death if we went to war again." Tobirama sighs. Hashirama-nii is his blood brother, so he is supposed to defend him. It is what Kanae would do if it were Neesan, but, but-She's upset with it anyway. She doesn't like how they affect Madara-sama. "Niisan's looking at the bigger picture." Tobirama turns away. "I just hate backing down, but we're not ready for something like this." _No._ She thinks. _War has made you a blithering idiot and a coward to boot._

Behind her, Madara-sama shudders, his rage cooling to a breaking sort of grief. She wonders what it is that he's thought of. He'd been so happy just this morning.

It's vanished like dew in the noon sun.

She steps closer, leaning her head against his arm, her hair spilling over his shoulder.

"Have it your way then." She shrugs. "Let them go if you want." It won't stop them from dying. She's made sure of that. Maybe the Senju men are cowards.

She isn't afraid of death.

Madara-sama's mental state is more important at the moment. His grief's receded just a little though it still haunts his eyes. That black rage is back.

"What about you, Mada?" She wants to slap Hashirama, but it would cause him more damage that either she or Neesan would have to fix.

 _I'll have to talk to Neesan soon. I want to make sure that she's alright and that the baby is fine._

"Do what you want." Madara-sama pushes past Hashirama-nii and continues onwards without stumbling, darkness trailing in his wake. "You never listen to what I want anyway." He sounds so tired.

 _So this is why he is tired. War cannot make him more tired than Senju Hashirama._

She follows after him, still smiling politely. But when she passes Hashirama-nii and Tobi-baka, it is hard to resist. "I hope you're satisfied." She comments, mildly because to do otherwise would be unmannerly.

She leaves only silence ringing behind her.

* * *

She continues following after Madara-sama and his black cloud of grief, rage and partial madness through the streets.

The path before him parts like water for the prow of a ship. She doesn't think he sees the way people cringe and draw back as he passes by, the way parents pull their children close, and people scramble to get out of his way.

It would hurt him more to see it, she thinks. The opinions of others matters much to him.

It's hard to believe that people would elect him over Hashirama, who seems personable enough on a daily basis. They don't see the true measure of either man. She's not sure she does either.

She takes his hand, and he comes back to her just a little, just enough that he stops scaring children out of his path. He lets her hold his hand all the way back to the district.

It might be more comforting for her than for him. He seems so distracted during it all.

She sits down on the chair by her table and picks up her sewing. There's not much that she has to do for him still; his shirts are technically finished, but she doesn't know when he'll break down, or what to do.

Sewing is a comforting rhythm.

He paces in tight circles, back and forth as if the walls cannot contain him. For the first time, she is a little afraid of his nervous energy, of the storm in his eyes that looks too much like madness for her to be comfortable.

Then, she's never been good at fearing what she should. She's not afraid of him only afraid of what he could possibly do to himself.

"Kawasaki Saemon has always been a respected member of the poisoners guild." She begins with this, because at this point she doesn't know how much of Madara-sama's rage is directed at Hashirama, and how much of it is at the prisoners who are about to be released soon. "But I really doubt that he can cure chakra poisoning." She is certain that it is impossible, but she doesn't say so because Madara-sama needs something else to focus on, and certainties are easy to dismiss.

"What?" He stops pacing. The still in the storm might be worse than the actual storm. She doesn't know if his energy's bleeding into the air, or if he's just tamped it down a little bit and soon it will explode.

She continues sewing almost mindlessly.

"What did you just say?" He asks again.

He sounds...fine now. Fine.

"Well." She looks up at him and drowns in the tiredness in his eyes. He doesn't like life, because it doesn't like him. _He's not frightening after all, just crumpling to pieces, burning away._ "You wanted them dead, didn't you, Madara-sama?" She rises and takes his hand. He lets her do it, just like he'd let her back in the street. "Believe me, chakra poisoning is a very painful way to die."

"You were only in there for two minutes. You said you had to ask them a question." Does he think that she also agreed to let them go free? Did he think that everyone had abandoned him?

It is not so. She will not abandon him.

She pulls him over to a chair, and he collapses onto it, shoulders hunched, hands clasped. At this moment, he looks so small.

She sits down on the floor beside him, her head on his lap. "I did want to know why Kawasaki-san would throw his weight with a city that he hadn't any ties to, the last I've heard." She plays with her hands and tries to find the right words to explain to him what she means. "But I also wanted to be certain that they were Kawasaki-san's disciples, because he can't cure chakra poisoning." It is not exactly what she means to say, but she's not sure she wants to tell him...that she killed for him.

"Why?" He sounds so lost.

"You wanted them dead." Her hands do not listen to her demands. She traces his collarbone and wonders what else he'd allow her. If she were to kiss him, would he allow it? Would it soothe him? "And I could kill them even if Hashirama did not agree. So please don't worry over them anymore, Madara-sama. They'll die very painfully indeed." She's not sure she wants to tell him, but he needs to know why she would do it.

He sighs, painfully slowly, and the tension bleeds out of his frame. "Thank you." _So little confidence. How do I ever help you?_

"No need to thank me." She squeezes his hand. He's drifting away again.

His eyes are blank, but he is not mad.

No. Perhaps he's never been mad.

He feels too much, too deeply, and he suffers for it. She doesn't know how to help him.

"Madara-sama." She tucks a lock of his hair behind his ear. His eyes are not supposed to be so shadowed. Maybe it's her fault. She's never been able to bear the sadness of the people she loves very well. "I want to take care of you, so don't thank me." _Don't think I'm doing this because I want you to be indebted to me._

 _It is not a debt to be repaid._

"It's a thankless task." He squeezes his eyes shut, as if he can't bear to look at her, and that breaks a little piece of her heart.

 _I know I am not the person you want to comfort you._

Nevertheless, it is hard to give up. It is worse to know that he believes he's a burden.

"No." She rises, holding his face in her hands. He feels frail even if she knows that he's stronger than he looks. He inspires fear, but at the moment, all she can feel while looking at him is the desire to wrap him up in silk and never let the world hurt him again. He has been hurt so much already. Her thumb traces the bruising under his eye absently. _What can I tell you to make you feel better?_ "You don't know how much you're worth."

He opens his eyes.

His hands come up to hold her wrists. He doesn't believe her.

His hands seem so large compared to hers. "What." He asks her. "Exactly am I worth?"

 _How to explain what you're worth to me...how to tell you without telling you that I love you._ "When you first arrived in Uzu, I thought you might be a post." She smiles. _Keep it light, and do not mention love_. "And I thought you were tired."

She's half convinced that he'll crumble to ash under her hands. There's a fire burning beneath his skin.

So distracted.

"You're a kind man, Madara-sama."

The twist of his lips is bitter. "Kind?"

She knows that there are times when he has not been kind. She knows he has to have killed people who did not deserve to die with those hands wrapped tenderly around her wrists. Neesan does not like him, and though she's stopped mentioning it, she still believes it. Neesan doesn't dislike men without reason. It is usually a very good reason.

Kanae knows this, knows it but- _You've always been kind to me. You've always been kind to Izuna. There isn't a member of your clan that you wouldn't die for._

She unlaces his armor, and sets the separate plates of it on the floor-she'll put it back on the rack later-and pulls him to his feet. He sways, but he does not fall.

"Would you have walked at your brother's pace, helped him over the boat, been worried for his well being, been so guilty of his sacrifices for you, if you didn't care for him?" Perhaps he is not always so, but that does not mean that he isn't kind. "Would Konoha mean so much to a cruel man? Men that only know how to live for war do not dream of peace, Madara-sama." She wonders how much of her words he's hearing, how many of them will stick with him past today. She needs to say them anyway. "You are more than whatever it is that is the worst of you."

It does not matter what he's done in the past. It only matters what he will do in the future, what he does right now.

He is not unkind. He doesn't mean to hurt her.

"You ought to give yourself a little more credit, Madara-sama." She tucks him into the futon as she did that first night.

He seems to recognise that she's done this before, but it no longer bothers him. He doesn't protest.

"Sleep well." She tells him and watches as his eyes slide closed once more.

The frown lines disappear when he's asleep. She can't say that he looks younger than his age when he's asleep, but he looks less worried, less unhappy, better somehow, as though the air he breathes while dreaming is cleaner than the air he breathes awake.

She brushes his bangs away from his forehead and kisses his temple gently. "Get well, Madara-sama."

He shifts, reaching for her hand.

She sits with him a little while longer until his grip slackens, and then she rises to go. Lunch will not make itself, and she can hear Izuna's footsteps moving through the house.

"Neesan?" He's standing in the doorway, a frown on his lips.

"Yes?" She dusts herself off, even though he can't see her and her bruised knees.

"Senju Tobirama is here to see you."

Oh, well, that is inconvenient. "Send him to the kitchen. I'll meet him there." She has to make lunch.

Inarizushi will do. Madara-sama can always be charmed into a good mood again at least for a little while by his favorite food, but that will not happen if she does not get Tobirama out of the way before he wakes up.

Knowing him, looking at Tobirama will make his bad mood flare up again. And by bad, she really means murderous.

* * *

Tobirama doesn't say anything much when he sits down at the kitchen table. She's standing on the other side, at the other end, scooping the centers out of tofu squares. It is a delicate job that requires steady hands.

If he just wants to sit there, all she has to do is push him out the door when Madara-sama wakes up again. Izuna will help her distract his brother should it come down to it.

She turns away to check on the rice. It is not yet ready to be mixed. She stirs it once, and begins draining a bit of the water from the top of the pot.

It will be better not to strain the rice after it is cooked. She taps her fingers on the countertop as she waits.

For all that Madara-sama has no idea how food is created, he built a perfectly workable kitchen. It is strange.

"Uzu woman-" Tobirama begins.

She raises an eyebrow at him. "My name is Kanae."

"Uzuma-"

"Uchiha Kanae." She's not entirely in the mood to deal with him at the moment.

"Whatever your name is." Tobirama's circled around the table now and stands between her and the rice. "You did something in that prison cell that you're not telling Niisan."

She blinks. _How does he know something like that?_ "Of course, I didn't." The rice is ready. She steps around him to tend to it. "I didn't talk to Hashirama-nii about any of it."

"What did you do?" He's watching her with narrowed red eyes and crossed arms.

She's not afraid of him, though she would rather that he leave. She doesn't enjoy speaking to him much at all. "What makes you think I did anything?"

"I'm a chakra sensor." He snaps. "And your chakra is still in those prisoners, and I have no fucking clue what's going on."

She smiles rather brittley. _Just my luck. I should remember to think these things through next time._ She shrugs. "I gave them a gift for when they next speak to Kawaki-san. We are letting them go, yes?"

He stands there in her kitchen, feet apart, arms crossed, and eyes narrowed. "They're dead aren't they?"

She hums noncommittally. "Perhaps." She won't say that they are. It'll be left to Kawaki-san to decide the cost of his betrayal and Tobirama to decide the depth of his cowardice.

They shouldn't have broken guest right when Neesan was at the table. Even if she'd been in Uzu, she would still have come to Konoha to end this.

"Why did you do it?" She turns to look at him and wonders what he thinks she did it for. He probably doesn't think it's for Madara-sama's peace of mind. She shrugs and turns back to the rice.

It's time to stuff and fry the inarizushi.

"You really are a vicious woman." Tobirama relaxes slightly. His arms are looser now, and the line of his shoulders is less tense. "You'll go about your day after knowing that you've murdered three people?" Yes. She will.

She won't lose a moment's sleep over it. There's a reason she became the Viper, and it wasn't because she'd been bored of sealing lessons. She'll never like killing, but she doesn't regret what she's done afterward.

"I never said I killed anyone." She heats the oil and pulls out a pair of chopsticks. Inarizushi doesn't need to be fried all that long after all. "You're the one assuming, Tobi-nii."

"I told you to stop calling me Tobi-nii." He shuffles around the kitchen, ungainly and out of place.

He'd seemed so human this morning when he came to answer the door. Perhaps weakness is what makes men human. At times, she wonders if she's really right to dislike the Senju brothers so much.

They are not bad people. They are just not _her_ people.

"Would you rather that I call you Senju Bastard?" She asks as she picks inarizushi out onto a plate. There's other food that she has to make as well for lunch. Madara-sama likes green tea from the stand by the cloth vendor, and sweets from the bakery...she doesn't know if she has any in the house.

Too late, she remembers that she ate the last pastry from the box the day before and self justified by saying that there'd be enough time to buy more before Madara-sama notices.

"No." Tobirama grudgingly admits. "I would like you to stay far removed from that term." He's asking civilly, which is a surprise.

She examines him again with his white hair and angry red eyes. He doesn't look much like his brother. _It must be a sore point for him._ "I don't literally mean that you're a bastard." She picks up an inarizushi and stuffs it in his mouth when he opens it to protest. "I mean that the stick up your ass is coming out your mouth. And even if you do fit the legal definition of the term, it's nothing to be ashamed of." Niisama fits the term.

Niisama doesn't care.

He blushes an angry red, but he doesn't spit it out, so she counts it as a plus. "Come along, Tobi-nii." She gestures for him to follow her. "I am going shopping. You can carry my boxes."

Bewilderingly, he does as he's told.

She dances down the street, dust flying up over her bare feet-she'll have to wash again before she tracks mud all over the floor-and Tobirama follows along behind.

The people passing them on the street do a double take before continuing on their way. She supposes it is strange. They know that she is Uchiha Madara's wife, so seeing her out walking with his worst enemy is unusually strange.

"Why do you dislike Madara-sama so?" She's always wondered what made Tobirama hate Madara-sama almost as much as Madara-sama hates him.

At least Madara-sama has the excuse that Tobirama nearly killed him.

"Why do you insist on calling him -sama?" He grouses as he trails along behind her.

"Because that's the amount of respect he deserves."

"He walks around with his brother's eyes in his head." Tobirama kicks a clump of dirt down the street.

Ah, the conversation's wound around back to this again. "From what Izuna told me he volunteered."

"That's what he says to everyone." Tobirama mutters. "But I knew Uchiha Izuna better than that." Oh, perhaps he cared about Izuna. It is... "He wouldn't just give up a source of power and spend the rest of his life blind for anyone-" Perhaps not.

"You didn't know anything about Izuna at all." She considers it. "If your elder brother was going blind in a war zone," How to frame it, how to make him understand? "And he'd nearly been killed by an enemy because he was protecting you and couldn't see straight, but if he had your eyes, he'd never suffer like that again, what would you do?"

She sees him pause, a horrified understanding twisting through his features and his pale and shaking hands. This works better than dowsing him in water.

Perhaps he's not...bad. Perhaps he just doesn't know the consequences of his actions. Perhaps he lacks empathy and understanding for other people. Maybe he rubs everyone the wrong way.

"I suppose you know who nearly killed him." He shoves his hands in his pockets and looks away. "That's why you hate us, isn't it? I nearly killed your husband?"

And if she could forgive Madara-sama for his past sins...no. She's always been selfish. She's not in a forgiving mood when it comes to Tobirama. "Why do you hate Madara-sama?"

"Not your problem." He spins on his heel and stops following her. "You're perfect for the Uchiha Bastard. He'll need someone like you."

She's grasped a little part of what makes him tick though. He dislikes the word bastard and uses it like an insult. He's capable of being guilty. He loves his brother. He's insulting when he feels defensive.

Madara-sama must make him defensive somehow. _Just what are you defending like an angry dragon?_ Alas, she doesn't have time to think of it.

The bakery and then straight home it is. She's stirred up enough talk today. Neesan will have to wait until tomorrow.

* * *

When she arrives home, the house is silent, and the courtyard vacated. It looks like the clan's children know to stay away when Madara-sama is in a bad mood. It is understandable, though a little disheartening.

They are in the very center of the Uchiha District, but she hears only the sound of her own footsteps moving about and a quiet murmur of voices from Madara-sama's room.

It must be Izuna and Madara-sama then. There is no one else in the house, and Madara-sama doesn't like visitors.

He must be awake by now. She wets a cloth in a bowl of water, and makes powder of one of her pearls between her fingertips. It makes an excellent restorative too among other things, and powdered pearls are good for the skin.

It might be a female beauty routine though. She almost giggles to herself as she walks down the hall with a tray. _Maybe Madara-sama will be grumpy about that thought as well?_

 _He's half heartedly grumpy when I call him a little boy._

"-who will still care for you after everything you've done." This is Izuna. His conversation with Madara-sama must have been going on for a while now. "Just don't squander what you have, Niisan. I don't think the gods will give you another chance."

 _Izuna means...me._

 _Ah, but I'll be staying forever and ever._ She steps over the doorway. "Madara-sama isn't supposed to do anything regarding me." He doesn't have to worry. _I'll always care for him._ "He has his own struggle."

"He made his vows." Izuna rises and makes his way toward her. There's a sad and understanding smile on his lips. He knows then, that she wants desperately for Madara-sama to love her. _How does he know? I didn't-oh, well, I suppose he's always been perceptive._ "He can't keep taking from you without giving forever, Neesan. You deserve more than that."

She laughs though, because her life is hardly as dramatically bad as Izuna makes it sound. "Madara-sama has given me more than you think."

He nods once and moves past her on light cat feet. She spins into the room. "Do you feel any better?" Madara-sama is sitting up, which is a little more than what he would have bothered to do on a past day when Hashirama-nii ignored his opinions.

He might be getting better. "No." The admission is quiet, but he's made it nonetheless. He doesn't normally verbally acknowledge that he is not fine. He'd let her assume it if she asks, but normally he doesn't _say._ This time, he does. He sits there, an arm over his knee, and tells her that he does not feel better.

"Konoha isn't good for you." And by that she means that spending time with the Senju is bad for him, though she supposes that he'd miss Hashirama-nii if he moves away, and he cannot very well move away. "And please don't take this the wrong way, Madara-sama." It's not Konoha's fault that he feels bad here. "But this place weighs on you."

 _You come home unhappy so often._

"Don't tell me." But he sounds like he does want her to keep talking, that he agrees with her. "I..."

"Take a break." She tells him, and pauses. What if he thinks she means something else? "There is no need for you to go on like this forever." He could stop going out to manage the city on weekends. They could walk around the district, stay at home; he could taste test all of her new food; she'll feed him so many pastries that he'll be sick of pastries for the rest of his life...she misses squid. Maybe she can find some at a vendor's stand in the market. Maybe he could go to market with her and carry her baskets...

"Hashirama will burn the city down." He sounds a little more alive with a touch of his usual cynicism. He mentions Hashirama, and it does not hurt.

She shouldn't be jealous of a man who doesn't know what he has. It only hurts her. It's not worth it.

She snorts. "At this rate, you'll burn the city down first." She leans her head on his shoulder, her arms wrapped loosely around him. "What did you and Izuna talk about?" She knows that it is tangentially about her.

Still, she wants to know.

"He cares for you." _Does he mean...oh. Yes, he does. Does he think that everyone loves me? Does he think that I'm lovable?_ She knows that he admires some parts of her, but she wouldn't go so far as to believe that he thinks she's lovable despite how jealous he is over people.

"I'm rather fond of your brother, Madara-sama, and I am aware that he cares for me, but I don't think he'd like me nearly as much if he had to live with me every day." Izuna is often frustrated by the things she does. He wouldn't like it.

"He lives in this house." Oh, she's worded it poorly.

"Izuna dislikes being taken care of. He'd be dreadfully irritated that I'd attempt to do everything for him." She's forgotten to put his armor away. This must be remedied. "I made lunch too."

"You already take care of him." He sounds confused, which is not the same as tired, which means that he's coming back.

"Would Izuna appreciate me putting away his armor?" She likes making life easy for her family, and Izuna is her family too, but every move she makes undermines him somehow. It is sad, but she's learning not to presume with him. "Or would he insist on doing it himself?"

"Izuna..." He seems to be considering it. "Izuna doesn't like the idea that he cannot do things by himself."

"Exactly." She smiles at him. He's a little better now."You don't think whatever I'm doing is a reflection on whether or not you can or cannot do it by yourself. You just accept that I like these sorts of things." She straightens. "He would feel so constantly undermined by things I do without much thought, and that would be a horrible life for both of us." She sits down across from him. "He's offended sometimes, if I slide a cup across the table so that he can reach it better. It implies that I think he can't do it himself."

"Then he does not know what he is missing." Sometimes, he says something, and it makes her heart _skip._

She can only shrug and laugh. "Not every cat is the same, Madara-sama."

"I am not a cat." He grouses, but he's blushing, the tips of his ears and his neck turning red.

She offers him a hand up. "You are a cat." Sometimes it is fun to tease him, but she doubts he quite has the energy for it yet. "But let's not argue. Come eat lunch before it grows cold."

He takes her hand and walks out of the darkness down to the kitchen, where there is inarizushi and fresh pastries and cake.

* * *

 **A.N.** Kanae has domestic dreams and a talk with Senju Tobirama who is as prickly as a wet cat, but still really rather human, which is disconcerting for her.

Thanks so much to mikurocks1234, HayaaShigure-kun, CrystalVixen93, OneWhoReadsTooMuch, Scarease, bunnyguest, Elise142, stubs1101, LittleMissSugarLess, Shion Lee, Blackcurse01, and killerfox116 for reviewing!

And everyone else who favorited and followed.

~Tavina


	13. Semper Ad Meliora

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"Always towards better things"

-Latin Proverb

* * *

"Are you trying to make sure I don't fit into my armor anymore?" Madara-sama pouts when he complains. It is not overly noticeable, she hasn't noticed before, but she does now, and it is difficult to unsee it. She hides a smile behind her sleeve and says nothing. He sees though, because his eyes narrow. "And why do we have a new box of pastries? We didn't finish the old one." He squints suspiciously in Izuna's direction. "Izuna?"

Her heart twinges guiltily. _I thought he wouldn't notice..._

"I didn't eat them, Niisan." Izuna-kun flicks a drop of water in his direction from his place at the shogi table. It looks like he's playing by himself again.

Izuna plays shogi to pass the time often, and Kanae would join him, but she has never learned how to play, and she hasn't worked up the courage to ask him to explain. Perhaps she will soon. It does no good to leave him lonely.

But still she can't forget. It's her fault that the pastries are all gone.

"Sorry, Madara-sama." Ah, this is so embarrassing. When was the last time she carelessly ate all of someone else's favorite food? "It was my fault. I ate the last pastry. Please don't blame Izuna."

It isn't fair that he thinks it's Izuna-kun's fault when really he ought to be cross with her.

He slaps a hand over his mouth, amusement a slow spark in his eyes, but it's not enough to help him. A chuckle bubbles past his hand, and he can do nothing but lean back in his chair, shaking helplessly. His laughter is rich and deep, and it warms her down to the tips of her fingers.

It really isn't fair. She'd been making a serious confession of guilt and all he can do is laugh at her? _It is good to see him laugh._

She stomps around the table and frowns while tilting his face up towards hers. "So mean..." He laughs more easily than he used to, and while he is always beautiful, he is radiant when he is happy.

He looks impossibly fond, so impossibly fond that it almost hurts.

He pulls her closer, so that she sits on his lap, a hand tangled in her loose hair. "Am I mean?" _Oh Kami. He's in such a good mood that he's moved right past happy to teasing._

"Don't laugh at me." She moans and buries her face in her hands. He is far too amused with her plight for her to look at him properly. "I only ate it because I was hungry and it isn't fair and, and..."

"Niisan." Izuna says, suddenly. "Don't be mean to Neesan." She hears the spun sugar in his tone. _Oh, Madara-sama, what a trap we've spun for you._

Madara-sama frowns. "I wasn't mean."

"Neesan!" Izuna wails. "Niisan won't listen to me either!"

She bounces over to sit with Izuna. "If Madara-sama won't, won't listen to us, then I'm sure...that...sure that we will have to endure." It is fun to play games like this, to poke and prod at her husband's pride lightly until he is slightly nettled.

He mock glares at the two of them with his arms crossed. "What Kami _blessed_ me with two younger siblings?"

She gasps with overly theatrical horror. "I'm your wife!"

"And I'm your only brother!" At this rate, she and Izuna might become just as terrible as the Terrible Twins...no, the Twins are still far more terrible.

"You know what I meant." Madara-sama turns away sulkily with his arms crossed, but there's a smile pulling at the corners of his lips all the same.

Izuna smiles. "Oh, we do, Niisan." And then Izuna catches her hand and sets it on the shogi board. "I should teach you how to play, Neesan."

"I would like to learn."

So Izuna explains the rules and names the pieces, and they begin a game that she loses, and then they begin again. It is a good sort of game, even if she is bad at it-she doesn't like to lose pieces and spends far too much time defending pawns.

Madara-sama has pity on her after the second time she loses and sits down next to her so he can help.

Izuna throws a pawn at him. "No fair, Niisan."

He catches it easily and sets it back on the board. "You shouldn't get a big head because you can beat a beginner, Izu- _chan._ "

Izuna flushes bright red from his neck to the roots of his hair. If she were any more prone to hyperbole, she would say that she saw steam come out of his ears.

But his flailing sets off Madara-sama's laughter again, and the afternoon is golden, dear to her heart for always.

They are a family.

* * *

There's a cat at her door early the next morning, a well-fed, well-groomed, prim and proper cat sitting on the wooden porch with all her legs tucked under her neatly. Kanae looks once about the courtyard, but none of the children are up so early, and she rather doesn't believe that a pet would so suddenly venture out to the clan head's house.

 _She doesn't feel like a youkai._

 _Perhaps she's Madara-sama's pet?_

"And what's your name, little one?" She bends over to stroke the tri-colored cat between the ears. "Are you here to see Madara-sama?"

Or maybe this is Izuna's pet. She's not sure.

"Mrow?" The cat tilts her head to the side and bats at Kanae's wrist with a paw.

"Do you have a name?" There are no tags or identifications. "Oh, well, I can't just call you hey you until Madara-sama wakes up." She sighs. "I shall call you Asami. Is that alright?"

Asami rubs against her legs. She really is a friendly cat.

"Why don't you come in?"

They head in together, Kanae and Asami.

Asami confidently pads down a side hallway on the way to the kitchen in the direction of Izuna's room. Well, that's one problem solved. She's Izuna's pet.

Upon arriving at the kitchen, she's met with the second surprise of the day. Madara-sama is standing in the kitchen, blinking in the weak light of the pre-dawn morning.

 _He can't be pried out of bed before noon on a day he doesn't have work._

 _It must be urgent then. Or he doesn't feel well, but doesn't want to ask me. I hardly know which one it is._

"Madara-sama?" She resists the urge to check if he's running a fever. It would likely only offend him, even if it were true. "Breakfast isn't ready yet." She'll have to hurry if he's rushing to get to the Tower in time for a meeting.

"I know." He doesn't say anything for a long moment, and her anxiety rises a little more as she watches him. "Can I do something?" He asks.

 _He doesn't look feverish._ No, this morning he looks…contemplative, as if he's thinking about something too hard.

Repetitive motions are best then. He won't have to think much, and he won't have to cook.

She hands him a basket of apples and a paring knife. "It's not for breakfast, but I was going to try something before lunch today..."

He hums and takes her proffered items, padding slowly back to the kitchen table without a single care in the world.

So he isn't going to be late for a meeting either. _Why did he get up so early then?_

She guts fish on the other side of the table, and hums the tune to the Widower's Lament. _If years ago some man told me, I'd live fifty years by her sea without her..._ No matter how Iluya-atawa no Kanae came to live in Uzu, it is a truth that Uzumaki Ishiro loved her.

"Do you ever miss it?" Madara-sama pauses in the middle of peeling an apple and seems to have decided his next task is watching her.

"Miss what?" She gathers the fish guts and heads onto a plate and sets the plate on the floor. Asami will want to eat breakfast too.

"Being a shinobi."

She blinks. _What a strange thing to ask._ But then she looks back at him, looks at the trembling hands he set on the table, the shadow in his eyes, and it's no longer a strange thing to ask. "I was proud of my place in the world, yes." She comes back to wash and scrape the scales off of the fish in the sink. "I'm happy now in different ways." He cares for her. She knows it well. He would not worry over her happiness like this otherwise. "So no, Madara-sama, I don't miss being a shinobi."

"You miss the people you know and the family you have." Madara-sama is more perceptive than she gives him credit for.

"Sometimes." She doesn't claim otherwise. It would be a lie, and she doesn't like lying to him. "But I know that they're happy. It's enough."

He nods, though he doesn't look like he believes her completely.

They lapse into a comforting silence with only the sounds of fish sizzling in the pan and occasionally a shred of apple skin landing on the floor.

She is nearly done with cooking breakfast when he breaks the silence once more. "Hina?"

"Mrow?" So Asami's back.

"Madara-sama, that's Asami." She doesn't mean to say that Asami cannot be Hina exactly, just that if he wants other people to know his cat's name then he has to make that clear somehow.

"Asami." A vein twitches near his eye. Oh. He has misunderstood again.

She'll have to explain. "She was hanging around the house, and I didn't know if she had a name, or if she was someone's pet, but I did ask if she wanted to be named Asami, and she seems to like it."

Asami rolls over, waving her legs in the air, and Kanae obligingly pats her on the stomach a few times as well. Madara-sama and Izuna's cat is really very friendly.

"That's not a housepet." Madara-sama sighs. "That is one of my summons. Her name is Hina."

"A summons?" She watches the cat with a raised eyebrow. "Do you understand the human tongue? Is your name actually Hina?" A summons. Well, Madara-sama wouldn't lie to her.

Why is a summons cat pretending to be a normal cat?

"Mrow?" Hina blinks up at her innocently.

She isn't familiar with the Cat Clan of Fire Country, though she does know that the Uchiha keep that summoning contract, but the Crows don't like to be spoken to like pets in the slightest.

Hina didn't even protest to being called Asami by her this morning.

It is strange.

Madara flicks a piece of apple peel at his summons. "Hina, stop pretending to be only a cat to charm food from my wife. You don't even need to eat."

Hina sends him a very unimpressed look. That settles it.

Hina is a summons pretending to be a housepet. Of all the strange surprises this morning has brought, this might be the strangest.

She shrugs. "Well, I'll leave you to discuss it with Madara-sama then."

Best find Izuna so that he can come to breakfast then. Afterwards she'll have to mop the hallways and dust Madara-sama's small collection of books and…

There is much to do.

* * *

Breakfast has come and gone. She's finished washing all of the dishes, and Izuna has gone out to visit clan members, and Madara-sama is still sitting at the kitchen table staring off into space. "Madara-sama?"

This is very strange, but he hasn't been acting like himself all day.

"Hmmm." The far away look in his eyes only deepens.

"You've been staring at me for half a minute." Not entirely true, he'd been staring in her direction, but not necessarily at her for the past half minute. "Aren't you going to be late soon?"

He tilts his head back so that he meets her eyes. "Who am I?"

She checks his temperature with the back of her hand. _No fever…_ "You're Uchiha Madara-sama." She has to tease him. He's been quite strange ever since getting up this morning, and she doesn't know _why._ Best keep it light until she can figure out what brought this on. "Don't tell me you forgot your own name during breakfast because you got up too early."

He smiles, slow and soft, laugh lines etching crows feet at the corners of his eyes. "Humor me for a moment. Who is Uchiha Madara to you?"

She takes his hand. "Well, you know, there are the basic things, you're my husband, and I l-" She breaks off in the middle of a sentence. She'd nearly said, had nearly said- _I love you._ She is unused to omitting such things. Lies don't come easily to her, but for his peace of mind she has to. "But I don't think that's what you're looking for." She has to. It hurts though. _My love is not what you are looking for._

"No." He agrees. It is not fair to blame him. He hasn't the faintest idea where her thoughts have turned. "It isn't quite it."

But still, it hurts.

"You like green tea and pastries and sleeping late." _Pull yourself together, Kanae. He wants to know what you think of him. He wants to know how to think of himself._ "You love Izuna, and you are fond of me. Your greatest dream is peace." She taps her fingers idly against the table. "You are a man." _The dearest most impossible man in the entire world._

"Like anyone else then?" He sounds nettled.

When she looks over, his pout is back, and what can she do but laugh? "My favorite fearsome warrior." She pats his head, his black hair silk beneath her fingertips. "So no, not like anyone else in the world."

He freezes, eyes fixed upon her mouth. _What are you thinking?_ She doesn't know.

"Aren't you going to be late, Madara-sama?"

A pause. A beat. A silence. "I'm not leaving today."

"You're not?" _Where are you going if not the Tower?_

"You told me I should take a break."

She stops cutting up apples. _He wants to...take a break?_ It had been what she suggested he do, but she didn't expect-didn't expect him to actually do so any time soon. "I did, didn't I?" She sits down across from him. "Is there something you want to do today?" There's so much she wants to do-go shopping, play the koto...she hasn't sparred with him yet before. Perhaps she can persuade him to teach her how to use his war fan properly without reducing it to the level of a flail.

"Come out to lunch with me." He smiles fondly at her.

"With you?" It is what he's said, but she's misheard hasn't she? _No. I heard him properly._

"Do you think I would ask you to go alone?" His tone is mild, but there's an undercurrent of something rough.

He's never asked her to go out with him before. _It's almost a lunch date._ She could laugh. _Can I even go on a lunch date with my own husband?_

 _Is that not something people do when they are courting?_

"Should I dress up? Where are we going? Is it a place you go often? Is it far from here?" She spins across the room, hands clasped, bare feet battering over the floor. When she is happy, she likes to dance, and today might as well be ten birthdays all at once.

She darts back to him and pulls him from his chair, humming a children's ditty under her breath.

His other hand finds her waist, and they spin together for the time being. It is clear that he is unused to dancing, but there is no one here to see or judge his stumbles. "A teahouse that I know." He smiles. Her happiness is his happiness. His joy is her own. "They have excellent dessert. And you may wear whatever you like." Here in the morning light, he doesn't look a day older than his twenty-four years.

 _See, Obaasan? He has not drown._

"Will people talk about it if we went?" Will they finally see that he is no demon? That he is a brilliant, beautiful man too long bowed under the weight of his own expectations? Will he not want to go again if they do not see? The state of things is enough to leave even the most ardent optimist enough to leave the most ardent optimist hopeless.

He considers it. "They might." He frowns. "Why?"

Her lips turn down. "They spread awful rumors about you." Hearing it makes her _angry,_ but if she snaps at them it will only be more fuel to the fire, so she has learned to keep a check on her temper. That doesn't mean she has to like it. "And if I have one more paper woman come up to me and pity me for being married to you, then I shall slap her and everyone else." Her grip on his hand tightens. "There was a horrible restaurant incident." How dare they say that he would want her eyes?

Do they not know that-No. Of course, they do not know. They are too blind to ever see anything, and isn't that a laugh when they pity Izuna for being blind?

"It upset you?" And in this moment, he sounds fragile, as if he's afraid she'd pull away.

She hugs him around the middle tightly. _Worth more than all of them, Madara-sama._ "They don't deserve you. You've done so much for them, but all they do is call you a monster and spit on your name."

"They will do what they will do." He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "But that does not preclude me from taking you to lunch. So wear whatever you'd like."

They are going to lunch. She kisses his cheek on her way back to their room. "Then I'll let you arrange the food for today, Madara-sama." _What should I wear? It's a teahouse...nothing too formal should be good._ She pauses before she leaves the room. "Izuna?"

"I'll speak to him." Madara-sama makes a face. "Unfortunate gossips the lot of them."

She muffles a giggle behind her sleeve and skips off. This is the best surprise of the day, no matter what else she has to do.

* * *

They wander through the market together. Today, she has convinced him that it's perfectly safe to not wear battle armor inside the city. It has always confused her, how much he wants to trust and how much he doesn't at the same time.

That conversation had been amusing to say the least. "Do not worry, Madara-sama." She lets the words roll over her tongue, amusement carving it's way into her bones. "I will not let the village hurt you." _Not with swords, not with words. No one will hurt you._

He flicks her forehead in irritation. "If I die, my ghost will blame you."

Still, he is out and about. _They_ are out and about, and the heat wave has broken so her hair will not end up sticking to the back of her neck.

"Isn't it pretty, Madara-sama?" She points at a painting, a depiction of a koi fish.

"Do you want it?" He whispers at her conspiratorially, his breath tickling her ear.

She considers it. "No, that's alright." Madara-sama the cat will not cope well with koi fish, even beautiful ones. "I would dream of you turning into a cat and attempting to consume it if I could see it every day."

An affronted snort escapes him before he can stop it. "I _will_ not. Who do you take me for?" He looks mildly stupefied that he's said so in public.

The chatter around them stops. _Oh, did you not think he was human?_

They've paused to stare. Let them stare.

"I only said that I would dream about it." She watches him, the amusement in his obsidian eyes, and knows that he can stand to be baited today. "I did not say that you would eat a painted koi fish in real life."

He pokes her cheek with a finger. "Stop ruining my image."

She snaps open her folding fan. "I can't help it. You make it easy." _It is so so easy to tease you into blushing._

He sets a possessive hand on her waist, fingers curled about her hip and pulls her closer. "You like hair pins?"

"Mmmhmmm." She agrees. "I like my hair too, almost as much as you."

He half growls, but there's no heat in it. He is fond of her hair. She knows that he is fascinated, if not with its color, then with some other intrinsic part of it that makes him run his hands through it when she leaves it loose. "Am I an object for you to use in your jokes?"

"You should know me better than that, Madara-sama." There's no need to stop at the hair ornaments. She little likes the idea of spending when she already has so many. "I already have so many. There isn't a need for you to get me new ones."

Still, Madara-sama glances back as they pass, and she resigns herself to at least one new set of hairpins. Most likely, he won't be able to resist and is simply humoring her for the moment until he can get away to pick out far too many more. "To lunch then?" He asks.

"To lunch." She agrees. Perhaps if she distracts him enough, he will forget about the undoubtedly expensive hair ornaments that he wants to buy.

He pushes aside the hanging curtain that doubles as a door and escorts her into the teahouse. "A private table for two."

"Of course, Uchiha-sama." A middle aged man shows them into small quiet room and bows once to her and then once to Madara-sama. "You must be the Kanae-hime that I've heard so much of from Taiko-kun. I am Yamaguchi Daiki." Yamaguchi-san is polite, even if he did not expect to see her on Madara-sama's arm.

 _Who does he come here with normally?_

 _He isn't a man to go out to a meal alone._

She covers a smile with her sleeve. "Only good things, I hope, Yamaguchi-san." It's most likely Izuna. Madara-sama is a terrible cook, all things considered.

"Of course." Madara-sama seems to think nothing of answering for Yamaguchi-san. He still has not taken his hand from her waist.

Yamaguchi-san blinks once more. "The usual to begin, Uchiha-sama?" _Yes. Madara-sama comes here often._

"For me, yes." He turns to Kanae. "Tea and an opening course?"

"Chrysanthemum tea." She leans forward. "Would you happen to have ikayaki?" She has missed Obaasan's ikayaki, missed oysters and deep sea fish and seaweed candy and eel soup _. I don't think Madara-sama misses it a bit though._ He had been happy enough to put Shishou's turtle soup aside.

"Of course, Kanae-hime." _Oh, thank goodness._ She'd been afraid that she would never be able to eat her favorite foods again. It is comforting to know that it is not so, that no matter how things change, some stay the same.

Yamaguchi-san leaves, and they are alone, away from the eyes of the village.

They settle into a comfortable silence as they wait for the food to come back. She watches him from across the table, her head propped up on a hand.

He is staring at her again, eyes tracing a path from the tips of her fingers up her arm to end at the corners of her lips. She wonders what he is thinking of, to be looking at her so today.

 _I am no different than I was yesterday, but today he looks at me and sees something else._

When in doubt, she ought to ask her questions.

"Madara-sama?" She asks. Her stomach rolls uneasily. "You normally come here with someone else?"

He frowns. "Hashirama and I discussed building plans at the front table here before he married your sister, and Tobirama would sit around scowling and declaring things both impractical and senseless." His voice is as dry as winter wind. "They are not pleasant memories."

She should have suspected it was so. Madara-sama is not the type to...keep mistresses.

 _But he has slept with at least one other woman before me._

 _Kanae. Kanae. Kanae._ The voice in her mind speaks with Obaasan's frustration. _You know who he loves and it is not any of those women._

 _It is not me either._ And that bothers her, like a grain of sand in an oyster.

"Why?" He sounds like something's closed in his throat.

"Yamaguchi-san blinked twice when he saw me on your arm, but he knows your typical order, and you don't seem like the type of person who would go out to eat alone." She leans across the table in his direction and smiles. _What need do I have for jealousy? There is no one else here with the two of us._ "I just wondered, because teahouses are affiliated with the red-light district, if this is where you liked to bring your favorite girl."

He reaches over and pulls up one corner of her mouth so that her smile becomes lopsided. "I am offended that you think I had a mistress I did not tell you about."

He is teasing...right up until the moment that the light goes out of his eyes, and he is sad again. But this time she knows what he is thinking of.

He does not believe that he deserves her care.

She takes his hand. "Madara-sama? The food is here."

He nods woodenly, still far away in a land where he had somehow bought her love for hi.

"Madara-sama, I don't truly believe you would..." _No. You wouldn't do something like that._ "It was a tasteless joke. I'm sorry."

He shakes his head. "It's supposed to be a happy day." He offers her a pained smile. "I'm not very good at being happy anymore."

She picks up a gyoza with her chopsticks and holds it in front of his mouth. "You can learn again, if you want to." They are here to eat lunch.

She ought to remember that there are boundaries, that she can joke all she likes about him being a cat, but she _cannot_ give him a reason to doubt his own self worth.

"I might not be good at being happy, but I can f-"

She stuffs the entire dumpling in his mouth. "I was trying to he-"

She doesn't get to finish her sentence. He sets a hand on the back of her neck and almost smashes their lips together.

 _Oh._ She thinks. _He has been trying to figure out whether or not to kiss me._

And then she doesn't think much more because it is very pleasant to be kissed.

"You were not trying to help." He grouses when they finally break apart again.

"You're right." She agrees cheerfully as she picks up a piece of squid. "I was trying to drive you mad. I think I succeeded." If driving him to distraction will cause him to kiss her again, it will be a very fun game.

* * *

The children are sitting in various places in the courtyard by the time they return. "Kanae-hime!" Taiko starts to his feet. "And Madara-sama." He bows low. "Izuna-san said that you went out."

Taiko-kun is only stating the obvious because Madara-sama makes him nervous. Kanae has yet to decide whether it is simply because Taiko-kun needs to give undue respect to his clan head, or if it is because the boy finds Madara-sama scary.

"Yes." Madara-sama agrees rather happily. "We went out."

"Kanae-hime, can you sing us a song?" Momo-chan tugs on her sleeve while casting glances up at Madara-sama.

He offers the little girl a blinding smile.

The child squeaks and blushes and hides her face behind her hands. _Oh, Madara-sama, you don't quite realize how pretty you become when you're happy._

She half suspects that Uchiha Momo-chan has suddenly descended into a hopeless crush.

Madara-sama merely blinks and glances at her. _Is it something I did?_

Kanae tries not to burst out into giggles. "Of course, Momo-chan. Just get my koto."

With a sigh, he begins to go.

"Madara-sama?" She catches his elbow. "Will you stay?" She doesn't want him to leave quite yet. It has been fun, going out for lunch had been fun, their time together had been warm-she doesn't want him to go.

He stays.

Akira-kun brings her the koto, and she begins with the Tale of Ishiro and Kanae. It is past time for her to stop dancing around the subject. No matter what the first Kanae had given up, her homeland, her love for the sea, her people, each verse to her song with Ishiro drips with the love that they'd shared.

The muggy afternoon winds lazily down through the hours; Ishiro weeps over the loss of his wife and turns to singing his children lullabies while Momo-chan falls asleep in Madara-sama's lap, her small arms wrapped around his middle.

The rest of the children look rather tired as well.

She rises. "I'll go and get some fruit? Who wants apple slices?"

There's a murmur of affirmation from the gathered group, and she disappears into the house. It is a good thing that she asked Madara-sama to peel apples this morning.

Izuna is waiting in the kitchen when she walks in, pouring tea into two cups. "Neesan?"

Has he been here waiting for them to get back? "Did you need to speak with Madara-sama?" She asks. "He's just out of the porch. You didn't need to wait until we were done."

He shakes his head. "I was waiting to speak to you."

 _Me?_ "What for?" He sounds rather more serious about this than a casual chat.

He's been sitting in the kitchen waiting for her after all. Still, she pulls out the peeled apples and begins to slice them. Izuna slides a teacup across the table to her.

She'd promised the children on her porch desserts and candies and things. She can talk with Izuna and work at the same time.

"Is Niisan happy right now?" He asks.

She thinks about it. "Madara-sama is…" Is he happy? The last time she'd seen him he'd been smoothing down Momo-chan's hair with an absent hand. "He's happy." She decides. He is not the man who came to see her that morning in Uzu. Not the same man who'd sat with her all night on a rock facing the sea and never said a single word.

Izuna smiles, slow and soft. "That's good."

There's a pattering of small feet in the hallway, and Kanae never does get to ask Izuna why he'd waited in the kitchen all afternoon for her to tell him that his brother is happy.

"Kanae-hime." Momo-chan tugs at her sleeve, her hair a squashed mess of loose pigtails. "The Senju is here, and Madara-sama sent us away so he could talk to him."

Rei-chan turns her nose in the air. "And he was about to tell us about whether or not he loves you."

"But he did say that you're pretty." Akira-kun blushes and ducks his head shyly. "We think he loves you."

"Slow down." She chokes back a laugh at their affronted little faces. "Tell me one thing at a time." She hands them each a quarter of an apple. "You were interrogating Madara-sama in my absence?" She takes a sip of her tea.

Rei-chan nods. "He says he took you to a teahouse and that he thinks you're pretty." _Madara-sama thinks I'm pretty?_ "Did he kiss you?"

She chokes. "What?"

"He did!" Momo-chan covers her mouth with her hands and squeals. "He did kiss you!"

Izuna laughs. "Did Niisan kiss you in public?"

"Izuna-san!" Momo-chan wails. "Madara-sama's kissed Kanae-hime before and you didn't tell us?"

They go to crowd around Izuna instead. Izuna takes another delicate sip of his tea. "I know for a fact that he did."

Taiko-kun crosses his arms and frowns mulishly. "But you didn't see it happen. How do you know that Madara-sama wasn't lying?"

Izuna smiles, and it is wicked and sharp and all the manner of knowing. "I have my ways."

Izuna knows that Madara-sama has done far more than just _kiss her_ because they hadn't exactly been _shy_ and oh... "Izuna!" She hadn't realized why Madara-sama grumbled about his otouto quite so much before, but-she does now.

She does and she rather wishes that she didn't.

Prim and proper Izuna, who would have thought? _More like deviant, eavesdropping, gossip mongering Izuna._

The front door opens, and she hears Madara-sama's tired slow tread towards their bedroom. _It's only the middle of the afternoon._

As it turns out, Hashirama came by to apologize and Madara-sama quit his job at the Tower.

"Are you sure that's wise?" She asks him later that evening, when it is just the two of them.

He wraps an arm around her middle and kisses her shoulder. "Why wouldn't it be what I need?" He raises an eyebrow at her when she turns around to look at him. "You told me to take a break. I intend to take a very long and pleasant break."

This break would be more relaxing if he didn't look at her like a menu item.

Well, no, she would rather that it not be relaxing _either_ but… "Izuna is a gossip monger. He will tell everyone all about it."

Madara-sama laughs, his breath huffing over her pulse. "What else is new?"

"But he _knows._ " She thought there wasn't anything that could embarrass her anymore after the Twins, but as it turns out there is. What Madara-sama intends to do tonight is embarrassing.

"Does it bother you?" Madara-sama traces the line of her collar bone with idle fingers.

"No, not really." It is silly is all and not what respectable clan heads and their wives ought to be doing in the early hours of the evening.

Madara-sama scoops her up as though she weighs nothing more than a sheet of paper. "Then I intend to boil you in the tub until you beg for mercy."

"People aren't menu items." Madara-sama might enjoy his bathwater close to boiling, but she certainly _doesn't._ She struggles to get out of his grasp as he strides forward, but no, she doesn't have enough time.

"You could have fooled me." There's a teasing glint in his eye as he dumps her into the tub, still completely dressed. "Have fun."

"Madara-sama!" She sends a wave in his direction.

He stands there for a shocked moment, water pooling around his boots, forming a puddle on the clay tiles of the floor, his hair plastered to his forehead like a drowned cat.

"Oh," he growls, thunder in his voice and lightning in his eyes. "This is war."

And war it is, even if they do have to clean the bathroom later.

* * *

She sends word with the crows to the Twins the next morning. They ought to get here before Hashirama releases the prisoners, if only so they can adequately guard Neesan.

She's not sure how Neesan learned about this, only that Neesan is a little upset that no one told her the Twins would be coming about a week later. She blames Tobirama. He'd been there when the Twins had sent their answer back by crow, and must have gotten the information somehow. And even if it wasn't him, and the Twins had sent word to Neesan themselves, she still blames Tobirama.

"Why didn't you tell me, Kanae-chan?" They are whispering together as the prisoners are prodded out of the gate. "I don't have any rooms set up for them, the house is a mess. How am I supposed to be a good hostess?"

"They were going to stay with me." Kanae frowns and gestures in the direction of the gate. "They have a new niece or nephew to corrupt. You can't expect them not to come."

"But I'm their neesan. They're supposed to stay with me when they visit." And that's true. Tradition says that they stay with their eldest relative when visiting, but the Twins would drive Neesan mad if she had to live with them all day.

The Twins would drive almost anyone mad except themselves. It's why they go whaling and information hunting for most of the year. The crew of _The Whirlpool Queen_ can learn to put up with them or be mad themselves.

"It's my birthday they missed. They can stay with me for the first half of their visit, and you for the second half."

She didn't invite the Twins so that they could bring her birthday presents, but Neesan doesn't need to know that. With Neesan's volatile temper at the moment, she would be offended that Kanae felt the need to find her some more protection, nevermind that it's because Kanae doesn't trust the competence of the Senju rather than Neesan's own skills.

The Senju couldn't even prevent their clan head from being nearly murdered by his own dinner guests. Kanae doesn't trust them.

Neesan seems to accept the compromise, and only just in time too, because there's a change in the air, a crackling of twin chakra signatures appearing over the treetops.

Two familiar red blurs flash past the village gates her up into two pairs of arms. "Save us, Shiko-chan!" The Twins shriek in unison. "We're on the run from the law!"

"You're on the run from the law?" She asks her brothers with a raised eyebrow. "What law could you possibly be running from on the Western Blue?" The Twins practically rule the north portion of the Western Blue from Uzu to the Land of Water. There isn't a thing there that can scare them.

"It's awful. It's awful." They chant in perfect unison. "We were only going to cheat a merchant out of his life savings. It was entirely his fault that he agreed to a game."

Kanae snorts. "I'm assuming the Daimyo from the Land of Water liked that idea so much."

They nod furiously. "He did! He wanted to send us to prison. We did nothing wrong."

Neesan heaves a long suffering sigh. "Shiro, Ruta, why am I not surprised?" It's what the Twins do-cheat people, find information, assassinate the corrupt and poke fun at everything around them.

"But we didn't mean anything bad." They spin Neesan around, laughing with their heads thrown back. "We wanted to visit you!"

Neesan laughs and accepts their excuses. "There wasn't any lawlessness committed. You weren't practicing thievery. You just wanted so see me, so you made up an excuse." It's what Neesan likes the believe, that most of their stories are tall tales and not true ones.

"Mmmm..." Shiro-nii rubs the back of his neck.

"Of course, that's what we meant," Ruta-nii chirps. "We have a new niece or nephew to corrupt!"

Neesan frowns. "You two are not corrupting my child." In this light, she looks even more terrifying than usual. But with Neesan's growing stomach and short stature she looks like she's a plush children's toy trying to act tough.

The Twins grab Kanae and spin her around in mock terror. "Shiko-chan! Help us! Help us! Neesan's upset with us! Save us!"

Madara-sama removes her from their grasp. "You're making her dizzy." He sounds rather cross. She supposes that his discussion with Hashirama and Tobirama had not gone well.

"Shiko-chan." Ruta-nii wails. "Aren't you going to protect us from Neesan's wrath?"

"Of course, I will Ruta-nii." She prods him in the cheek. They all of them have learned to fear Neesan's wrath, the Twins most of all because they are horribly bad at social graces. "But aren't you supposed to be old enough to take care of yourselves now?" They aren't supposed to ever tell Neesan why she is here in Konoha, except of course, that she loves Madara-sama very much.

This is of course, why she'd written the letter herself and didn't let Neesan see it. The Twins haven't been good at lying to Neesan in the past and the last thing she needs is a furious Neesan breaking down Madara-sama's office door when he finally does go back to work at the Tower and giving him a lot more guilt.

"Old?" Shiro-nii clutches his chest flamboyantly. "Old? We can't be old! We're only nineteen! How can we be old already?"

Ruta-nii hobbles in circles around them far too quickly for an old person. "Oh no, I feel my sinews failing and collapsing in on themselves! We'll be old men by sundown! What will we do, brother? How will we survive?"

"It is impossible!" Declares Shiro-nii with a dramatic swoon backwards. "The only fate left for old men is inevitable death!"

"Neither of you are old." Madara-sama mutters. He is unused to the Twins and their wild, silly ways.

"Oh." Ruta-nii pauses and stares in his direction. "We meet again, Uchiha-san."

Madara-sama blinks once. "Indeed and it seems as though you gave me the wrong name."

"Did I give you the wrong name? Sometimes I forget which name belongs to me...I was sure that I..." Ruta-nii trails off into indistinguishable mutters. He must be embarrassed to be caught out on it then. That happens when he is outsmarted.

"Ruta-nii, you use Shiro-nii's name all the time." Kanae elbows him lightly in the stomach, and drags her other brother forward. "Come on, you've been traveling for forever now and I bet you cheapskates didn't eat." More like, her beloved twin brothers decided that they absolutely had to corrupt their sister's child as soon as possible, even if said child is still in the womb.

"Did you hear that?" Shiro-nii asks their brother behind her back.

"She called us cheapskates!"

"Shiko- _chan!_ " They wail in unison. "You're so _mean!"_

"I'm not mean." She chirps at them. "Madara-sama, if I let go of them we'll never be able to find them." Which is true. They'd likely run off and come back on their own schedule, which knowing them, would be a rude one. "We should go home." So they should all go home together, and everything will be fine.

She pulls the Twins along by the wrist, a brother per hand, and Madara-sama follows along behind.

* * *

 **A.N.** Madara and Kanae participate in highly embarrassing and questionable activities. Namely, water fighting in the bathroom. (Which of course, the grown up Uchiha Clan Head and Matriarch most certainly would never engage in such activities...Ever.)

I know I said I would get this out last week, (Hangs head in shame.) but I went to new student orientation for nearly three days and had no access to my laptop and thus there was no updates of anything forthcoming.

I'm sorry if that worried all of you, but I am here once more to declare that I'm not dead, just writing slowly. (Who knew that moving to college would be a hard experience?)

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited.

~Tavina


	14. One Step Forward

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk through my garden forever."

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

* * *

The Twins plop themselves onto the floor, one on either side of her.

"So, Shiko-chan!" Shiro-nii begins."You called us for our services?"

It's like Shiro-nii to be dramatic, because that is the inclination of the Terrible Twins, but for once, Kanae wishes they didn't act like they were about to engage in a shady backroom deal involving smuggled silks or something. IThey make Madara-sama nervous when they do that. It's not advised to make him so.

But she could probably find that from the Terrible Twins too, if she really wanted to wear silk of questionable origins. The Twins do deal in all sorts of business after all.

"Can't I invite you here to visit me?" They know exactly what they're here for. She'd specified in the letter, but they're probably doing this for Madara-sama's benefit. "Can't I miss you?" She pouts as she props her head up on the table with an arm. "Why must you think the worst of me?"

"Oh, but Shiko-chan!" Ruta-nii ruffles her hair. "Why would you ever do that? We're so awful that no one ever misses us!"

Well, if they have to call her bluff. She does miss them sometimes, generally not right after they've cheated her out of spending money once again. As it has been nearly half a year since she's seen them, she misses them quite a bit.

"What do you think she wants you here for?" Madara takes a seat across from them.

He is not cross, not really. Just confused, because he doesn't like guests and yet he hasn't developed a severe case of social woes by existing in the same space as the Terrible Twins. Such a thing should not be surprising, the Twins are likeable and lovely when they want to be.

Kanae considers it. Her brothers aren't truly so terrible as their reputations would have one believe. They're really rather sweet in their own odd way when they want to be. If they want to act like big children for the rest of their lives, it is no worry of hers.

"Uchiha-san," Shiro-nii begins. "We're whalers by trade normally..."

Madara-sama's lips twitch. It looks like he's trying very hard not to smile. "Let me guess, you two have an alternative job description."

Ruta-nii claps with a delighted laugh. "We've got a winner, Shiro." He punches Shiro-nii lightly on the shoulder. "We're assassins." They do take some assassination jobs, but at this moment, her two most terrible Oniichan are inflating their reputation.

 _You mean, you're part time pirates who take just about five assassination jobs a year and spend the rest of the time terrorizing the ports in Mizu when you're not selling whale meat._ She tries not to laugh.

"And informants." Shiro-nii sighs as he searches through his pouch. "Best information dealers on this side of the Western Blue." That's the truth though. The Twins know everything about everyone, and if there's something they don't know, they can always be persuaded to find out.

That's what she wanted anyway.

Madara-sama turns to her with a raised brow. "Why did you invite your assassin brothers to come visit us?"

She has promised herself she wouldn't lie to him, and since he has asked… "Kawaki-san might retaliate since I sent his students back to him dead," This is part of it. She wants to know how Kawaki Saemon will react. "And I don't trust the Senju to be good at keeping Neesan safe." The Senju had let their clan head get poisoned at his own dinner. That does not exactly inspire confidence in her, even if it was the direct result of Hashirama's own...lackadaisical behavior regarding trust. "I wanted them to check on how angry Kawaki-san is as well."

Mostly though, the Twins are here to watch over Neesan until the baby's due. She can monitor Kawaki-san's movements just fine through the crow network.

But no one knows that besides her, not even the Twins.

They would be so nettled to know that she's hired them to be babysitters for a child yet to be born.

"So there was a price for killing them." Madara-sama muses. He's gone away again, somewhere into the land of darkness, though he shakes himself free of it a moment later.

"Everything has a price." Ruta-nii flips a coin, and watches it with his cloudy hazel eyes as it spins slower than a coin ever should through the air. "All that you need to consider is if you want to pay the toll."

"Or," Shiro-nii adds. "If you're comfortable with someone else paying the toll for you."

Kanae sincerely considers putting her hands over her ears. The Twins may be dramatic, that is their prerogative, but she doesn't have to listen to it, does she?

Alas, such an action would be seen as a symptom of insanity, and it would be very rude, so she does nothing of the sort.

"How about a game?" Her brothers chorus.

Madara-sama heaves a heavy sigh and reaches forward for the dice.

Kanae slaps them both upside the head. "Oh, for goodness's sake. He's your brother. Don't charge him." Yes, Madara-sama might have taken kindly to them so far, but she suspects that he'll take to them less kindly once he realizes that he's been robbed of a good deal of money.

Most people do after playing a game or two with the Twins. They can barely help doing such a thing. Lifting money by indecent means from other people is just in their blood. There's too much fox in them, the blessing of a mottley Uzu bloodline.

"Ah, but Shiko-chan!" Shiro-nii wails.

"We were only going to lift a little bit of his life savings!" They look too innocent, the both of them, as if she doesn't know them far too well for that to work on her.

 _I have lived my entire life with you cheating me out of my spending money so you can use it for mad plans and new trips. You would think that I would know that your definition of a little bit of Madara-sama's life savings would be closer to an entire year's worth of income._

Kanae crosses her arms and rises. "You're going to make me poorer is what it is, my money grubbing Onii-chan. Can't you do anything out of the goodness of your hearts?" They will turn twenty next month. It is best that she retrieve their presents now, since it is unlikely that she will see them on their birthday this year. Not to mention, it might save Madara-sama's purse while the Twins are distracted by shiny things. "My two most terrible onii-chan." She doesn't mean it.

None of her brothers are truly terrible. It's just that the Twins are far too exuberant for their own good sometimes.

"But Shiko-chan!" They wail after her. "We don't have any goodness in our hearts! We don't even have hearts!"

She doesn't contain her laughter. _You do so have hearts or else you wouldn't be here._

She passes Izuna on the walkway as she heads back to her room. "My brothers are here, if you'd like to meet them sometime, Izuna."

He sets his teacup down beside him and smiles at her. "Which ones?"

"The Twins." She rounds the corner before she thinks to turn back. "Have you met them before, Izuna?"

But he's already gone.

 _So he has met them before? He didn't ask who they were after I said the Twins._ Still, there's no point in dwelling on it, so she leaves it be.

 _Now where did I put them?_ She rummages through the silks in her bottom drawer. There were blades that she'd seen in Konoha's marketplace earlier, of impeccably fine craftsmanship except for the small fact that they were unsealed, but it was a matter easily remedied.

They would do for something like a twentieth birthday. She is over a month early — their birthdays aren't until October — but she doesn't know when she'll next see Shiro-nii and Ruta-nii, so she will have to wish them well now.

Her hand lands on the tissue paper wrapped package.

It still amazes her how easily paper is used for the littlest things in Konoha. Back at home — Uzu is no longer her home, she reminds herself — paper is used only for special occasions, for it is rare and easily damaged.

 _I found the presents._ Here, paper is used for a hundred thousand inconsequential things, and it still delights her.

Though, sometimes, she misses the beauty of stone when it comes to polished floors and tables. She hasn't any stone tables in the house because everything is made of types of tree. Izuna has tried to explain it to her, but she still can't name the types.

Still, she has found the presents, so she ought to be getting back now.

"—like Senju-san enough remember? He doesn't get to be an honorary Uzu citizen." This must be Shiro-nii. She wonders what they are saying and why they feel the need to tell Madara-sama such a thing, but in the grand scheme of things, it is hardly important.

 _What did either Tobirama or Hashirama do to offend them so? Well, Tobirama is easy to see, but I wouldn't know why they are so angry with Hashirama._

Perhaps it's merely the tone of her letters. She and the Twins are close if only because their ages made them playmates, though they'd spent much of her childhood teasing her mercilessly over whatever scrap of embarrassing piece of information they could get their hands on.

She steps into the kitchen.

The next moment, she's mobbed. The presents are unwrapped in record time.

"What's this, Shiko-chan?" Ruta-nii holds the blade for Shiro-nii up to the light.

"Is it our twentieth birthday present?" Shiro-nii responds.

These aren't questions that really need answers. They know exactly what short swords are and that it will be hard for her to see them on their actual birthday unless they want to come back around to Konoha, but it is the spirit of the thing — the way they love to tease her.

"Did our imouto-chan get us presents before we could deliver hers?" They both clutch their chests and gasp, collapsing backwards upon the walls, eyes wide with mock drama. "Oh no! We've failed, we've failed! We're failure brothers!"

And then they reach into their storage pouches and pull out a veritable mountain of gifts. "Happy Birthday!" Ruta-nii pulls a lever, and she is showered by brightly covered streamers.

She startles herself by laughing. They haven't bothered to surprise her with streamers since she turned seven. Neesan's announcement that they'll be uncles again must have brought out their childish sides. Well, more childish side than their normal selves. Their cheer is a front for quite a few uncharitable thoughts much of the time, but today they are exuberant for all the right reasons.

"Haha got you new clothes, and Masato-nii made you a new black box for your inventory — this one's got carvings done in ivory — and Niisama got you this blade; Habiki-sama cried for you into a flask; Korui-nii wrote you new explosive tags; Obaasan made you a rose-gold and cream pearl hair net; the girls made you new hair ribbons; Chichi got you this..." Shiro-nii narrates the vast array of gifts as he drops a scroll into her outstretched hands, and then the Twins lean forward together. "And we got you a zither."

She'll have to look at Chichi's scroll later, but for right now, it is good to know that she is beloved still, that Habiki-san is still doing well despite having to train another dance partner, that everyone is well.

That is the most beautiful part of this: knowing that everyone is well. She is happy here where she is, has found a home she doesn't want to leave, so it is comforting to know that she will not have to.

"Zuzu!" _So Izuna did meet them._ The Twins bounce toward the door and pull Izuna from the doorway and into the kitchen. "We got you sesame candy from Mizu! We hope you like it!" They push a package in Izuna's direction.

It's good that Izuna has more friends, even if they are his entirely lawless brothers-in-law. As much as she tries to encourage him to spend more time with her, he manages to side step most of them in favor of having her spend yet more time with Madara-sama.

And since she very much likes to spend time with Madara-sama...well, never let it be said that Izuna is bad at influencing people to do what he wants.

"You're still the same." Izuna resists being dragged even as he gives a little by stepping forward. "I thought that you both only act like this at home."

"We act like this all the time and everywhere, Zuzu." Ruta-nii grins. It is only half true. At times the Twins can be serious.

"So you're always nonsensical?" Izuna sits down at the table. "I mean, the first time I met you, you asked a blind man to play cards."

 _They played cards? Oh no. I do hope Izuna didn't lose any money._

 _He's surprisingly happy for a man who lost miserably though._

"A blind man can play shogi." Shiro-nii and Ruta-nii both leave through the window. Only a clone of Ruta-nii is left behind to continue speaking. "So a blind man can play cards."

Izuna smiles something of an Uzu sharpness in the tilt of his lips. "The last time we played, it was strip poker? Are you sure you want to do that again?"

 _Ah, so that's how it is._ Kanae thinks. _Twins lost._

And isn't that a funny thought? That the Twins could lose a game they're so good at? It must have irritated them so terribly that they've become friends with Izuna in recompense.

"Oh come," Ruta-nii's clone protests. "It was fun."

"It was quite shameless." Izuna counters. "And I didn't even get to enjoy the show."

"I'm shameless." The clone agrees.

Madara-sama has been watching the proceedings with something like growing alarm. She sees it in his wide eyes.

Best step in before that then. "Ruta-nii, please don't give Madara-sama a heart attack. We know you're terrible, no need to rub it in."

The clone grins, sharp and quick. "I make no promises, Shiko-chan."

 _It's as good as a promise._

She spins away, her gifts in her arms, and kisses Madara-sama on the cheek as she passes.

Madara-sama pulls her back to kiss her lips.

She is certain she turns a brilliant shade of red. _Since when — Ah, it must have been just after lunch out._

Ruta-nii's clone wolf whistles at her. "I'll have another niece or nephew to corrupt soon, won't I?"

"Oniichan!" She resists the urge to cover her face with her hands. It will only give Ruta-nii more ammunition later. "Don't say that!"

The clone shrugs. "I did say I was shameless."

She laughs and pats him on the head twice before she leaves to settle her presents in her room.

* * *

Later that afternoon, she goes to sit in the back garden, among the profusion of flowers that Izuna cares for, and the clan children use to teach her about the local customs. There's a wicker basket of earthworms next to her.

It's time to call the crows.

She bites her thumb and pats the stone path before her. "Nawa-san?"

"Little Princess." A blind white crow croaks. There's no poof of smoke, no disturbance between them like there would have been for another of the crows.

Nawa-san is the oldest of them, and he rarely left the midland forest these days, but he is also the most powerful of the murder.

He hops onto her shoulder. "Why did you call an old soul who just wants to sleep in peace?" His beak worries at a loose strand of her hair.

"I have made an enemy of Kawaki Saemon." She sighs.

"Why?" Nawa-san does not stop preening her hair.

And that is why she's called him — his reactions are not like the others. If she'd called say Toro or Bako then they would already be in the middle of a dramatic tizzy. No, it is Nawa-san who reminds her the most of Shishou.

A mature whirlpool has unplumbed depths, and so does an old, blind crow compared to his adolescent kin.

"He threatened Neesan's husband." True enough. She would have killed for the slight to Neesan, but it is not the full truth.

"A sister's mate is for a sister to fight for." Nawa-san hops over to her other shoulder. "You are the one who has made a new enemy."

He wants the truth from her lips then.

"It hurt Madara-sama to see it happen." She knows the crows already know about her husband, is fairly certain that they know of her unrequited love for him.

She doesn't know how they take it.

Nawa-san tilts his aged head to the side and regards her with his absent left eye. "Did Tanaka-kun not teach you better, child?" He croaks. "A smart girl chooses a boy who is bewitched by her."

She laughs. "Well, then I must be a foolish girl." It is Madara-sama who is the bewitching one.

Nawa-san thwacks her with the side of his beak. "Of course you are. You're a child. You've always been fascinated by bright things. I blame your magpie brother."

"Niisama isn't a magpie." Nawa-san was old when Tanaka-san signed the crow contract, so it is only right that he doesn't much respect anyone enough to mince his words. Still, even if such an epithet wouldn't bother Niisama it does bother her.

"The boy acts like a magpie." Nawa-san hops off of her shoulder and onto the edge of the basket. "But since you are bribing me with food, I suppose you want someone to watch Kawaki Saemon in his own mountains."

"You know me so well." Kanae props her head up on a hand and watches as Nawa-san demolishes the food.

"I will set Keika on him." Nawa-san decides with a decidedly pleased edge to his voice.

Keika, Nawa-san's granddaughter, is perhaps one of the more vicious adolescents currently living in Nawa-san's nest.

 _Well, Kawaki-san won't be lacking in harassment in the near future._

"Thank you." It is always best to be thankful for what other people offer. Keika might be one of the most vicious adolescents in the murder, but she is also Nawa-san's favorite granddaughter. Giving up her company even for a few weeks is a difficult thing for the old crow.

"Cure your mate's hurt in kinder ways next time." Nawa-san preens her hair one last time. "There's no need for your cruelty in a land of peace."

It is good of him to remind her of this. She might be kind sometimes, but this last incident has only taught her that she is capable of sinking to dazzling acts of cruelty without a second thought as well.

Nawa-san hops off of her shoulder and disappears before his talons hit the stone path.

* * *

Madara-sama has spent a long time sitting at the kitchen table that afternoon, staring into a patch of golden light, loosely holding a sheet of paper.

She doesn't distract him, or at least, she tries not to, because he does not look sad, just pensive. There's no need to to cajole him into a better mood when his current one isn't poor. Still, this sort of self reflection is unlike him.

Suddenly he rises.

"Madara-sama? Are you going somewhere?" He turns back to her.

"I am going to speak with the Elders." He sounds rather resigned, as if he wishes he is going to do something else. _I didn't know that the Uchiha — of course they have elders. They are mainlanders. And even in Uzu some clans have elders._

 _It is only the Uzumaki who prefer to leave that kettle of fish well alone._

She bounces forward and smooths his haori over his shoulders to disguise her own nervousness. "Are they mean? Does visiting them bother you a great deal? Your shoulders are tense. Should I come with you?" _They have not come to meet me, though I'm sure that they cannot openly disapprove, or Madara-sama would never have married me to begin with._

His tension loosens under her hands "No." He pulls her close. "We are family. They want my well being." _Ah. You respect them much._ "And there's no reason for you to visit them just yet."

Still, that he doesn't want her to go see them, no matter how kindly he's phrased it — that sets her on edge. _I know that Madara-sama does not mind that his heir will be younger than Hashirama's, but do his elders mind?_

 _We have been married for half a year, and I am not pregnant. Will they take offense to such a thing?_ She does not know the customs, and she half suspects that if she asks Madara-sama, he will huff and tell her that no one is going to compel him to do anything regarding the subject.

She doesn't even know their names. No one has — No one in the entire clan who now come to visit through her open door has mentioned the Elders. Why haven't they?

"Why do you ask? Are yours unpleasant?" He's still holding her, his fingers idly tapping the small of her back.

"No." She giggles. "We don't have clan elders."

He frowns. "But your grandmother is alive still."

"Well, we have a council." Oh, how to explain it to him. "We don't have clan elders because we have a king and a nation." She has to do something with her hands, and in the absence of real work, she busies them by dusting the shelves instead. "We're more Uzu than we are Uzumaki in my clan. There are other clans who hold specifically to their traditions, and we do still have traditions, but I suppose we don't need Elders to council our clan head in decisions that would benefit us because our clan watches over every other clan in Uzu."

"You don't need someone to consider clan interests when they are the same as your nation's leadership."

"I suppose so, yes." She shrugs. "We used to, in the days of Ishiro, before there was such peace in Uzu that war doesn't touch the city, but no one's breached the borders of Uzu in nearly three hundred years."

Uzumaki Ishiro, who had seen Iruya-atawa no Kanae dancing on the waves one spring morning and fallen in love had defied his elders when he offered peace in return for the hand of the Sea King's youngest daughter. She had known him, had watched him at times when he came to the edge of the beach long ago, and she'd known, had always known, that she would one day be his bride.

"Are you concerned?" Madara-sama comes to stand behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, his breath warm against her neck.

"Do you think they'd like me?" She stills her nervous hands. "They have not visited before." She cannot lie to him, not truly, and this is what she suffers with, the thought that perhaps she could win the rest of his clan, but not the Elders that he so respected.

"There is no reason for them not to like you." He sounds so certain, so sure, but that cannot truly sooth her worries.

She laughs, nervous and a little sad. "I think I've always been afraid of not being enough." She turns around to look at him for a long moment. "It's a price to pay I suppose." She is not enough, but he does not know that.

He blinks. "What aren't you enough for?" _Your heart. It is still so burdened by a thousand sad things._

She laughs a little and leans up to press a kiss to his cheek. "Go, Madara-sama. You'll be late soon."

He frowns again as he pauses to look at her for a long moment, but he does not press it.

The last she sees of him is the swoosh of his hair.

* * *

She needs to find a good source of information, and in that light, she rules out Izuna right away. It is likely Izuna who has persuaded the rest of the clan to not mention the Elders to her.

She would be irritated with her brother-in-law, but he's likely done it out of kindness.

There are no illusions between them. Izuna loves her half because of how _alive_ Madara-sama has become and half because she is his sister-in-law and deserves all of the extra love he has nowhere else to put. It is very unlikely that Izuna would love her if she didn't have anything to do with his brother.

That does not hurt her, because it is unlikely that she would love _him_ if he wasn't Madara-sama's brother. Oh, like him certainly, but love him? That is uncertain.

It is the same for him. He would rather like her if she was just Uzumaki Kanae, princess of Uzu that he'd met because of Hashirama, but he loves her because she is Uzumaki Kanae, Lady Uchiha and his brother's wife.

It does leave her with few options though, because the rest of the clan loves Izuna dearly and possibly listens to him a sight more than they listen to Madara-sama's infrequent orders. It is Madara-sama who leads, but it is Izuna who orders.

Izuna is the one who manages half a thousand little incidents and concerns.

It still amuses her endlessly to discover what her brother-in-law actually does with his time. _Nothing in the Uchiha Clan is unknown to Izuna indeed._

It wouldn't be half as funny if Madara-sama was aware of the entire affair.

As far as she is aware, Madara-sama seems lost under the impression that his beloved otouto spent his days tending to his garden, playing shogi, gossiping with Inami's sewing circle, and listening to the words of small children — all true things, but not quite the full truth.

Izuna also spends his days visiting inside the district, handling interpersonal disputes, and calculating half a dozen different business accounts.

Still, this means that she has to find someone she can pressure a little more easily than any of Izuna's cousins.

Who can she find to take her to where the Elders live? Madara-sama had not wanted to take her, but it is entirely likely that they want to talk to him about her.

She has been here for half a year already without even seeing them. That has to change, even if Madara-sama doesn't think so.

Who can she find to take her?

She sets about making dinner. When she has a dilemma, it is easy first to calm her hands with habitual motions and consider her next move though an arrangement of pastries.

"Kanae-hime?" A small voice distracts her from her attempts to carve a whimsical array of seashells out of jelly squares.

"Oh," She turns. "Taiko-kun, just the person I wanted to see."

The boy comes to sit next to her at the kitchen table, gathering the extra jelly scraps into a basket. "Why did you want to see me?"

"Have a jelly." She's fond of Taiko, seeing as she's gained a little shadow ever since she dragged him about by the ear. Maybe this is what it feels like to have a little brother — Taiko's only three and a half years younger than her anyway. She doesn't know. She's always been the baby of her family.

"Really?" He reaches out for one of the small squares.

"Really." He's entirely too lanky for a boy of fourteen, and she is fond of cooking for friends and family.

He munches on several rather happily, swinging his feet like a small child.

"Can you tell me about the Elders?"

Taiko-kun freezes. "What Elders?"

She smiles and pats him on the head. "The Elders that Madara-sama is visiting right now."

Taiko-kun slumps. "I knew it would out eventually." The boy turns away, a ferocious pout on his face. "Izuna-san, you'll have to forgive me. I wasn't the one who told." He turns around. "What did you want to know about the Elders, Kanae-hime?"

She sits down at the table next to him and squishes his cheeks fondly. He'll get too old for something like this soon. "I'm so glad you asked! I want to know all about them, who they are, what they do, what they like, why they haven't visited me, how close they are to Madara-sama and Izuna and…"

Taiko slumps. "Just everything then."

"Yup!" She chirps. "Everything."

With a sigh, the boy begins. "They are Elder Asahi, Elder Yuko, and Elder Sayuri. Their main job is counselling Madara-sama about big decisions, and looking after orphaned children and organizing the clan registry. I don't talk to them enough to know what they like, but they're very close to Madara-sama and Izuna-san so they both would know. Elder Asahi smokes a pipe…"

The more she hears, the more she suspects that they had to have approved of her marriage to Madara-sama, at least, in some small way.

It's decided then. If they are unwilling to take the first step, and Madara-sama is also going to dilly-dally over the matter, she'll have to take things into her own hands.

"Come along, Taiko-kun. You'll have to show me to their house."

"What?" The boy scrambles out of his seat after her. "Kanae-hime! Why?"

"Because I am going to invite them to dinner." She doubts that Madara-sama can do a thing about it if she's there to ask in person, and besides, she wants to meet them. Madara-sama is truly close to so few people.

Knowing that there are three he has never introduced her to is a little funny, but also a little sad.

"Kanae-hime, I'm not supposed to do that." He protests, but he is presumably leading her in the right direction.

"Whyever not?" She suspects she knows, but it suits her purposes to play dumb. _Izuna, for all your protests about other people protecting you, you seem to want to protect me a great deal._

"Because it will make Izuna-san mad at me." Taiko points out a house on the other side of the street. "They live there."

"Alright." She straightens her shoulders and strides forward.

"Kanae-hime…" Taiko-kun tugs on her sleeve. "Please don't go there, Madara-sama will…"

The door pops open, and Madara-sama steps in front of it to block their view into the house. "I'll what, Taiko-kun?" _Oh, dear. He doesn't look much pleased._

"You'll be angry with me for showing Kanae-hime where the Elders lived, and the Elders will be angry too, and everyone will be upset with me."

She is sorry that she put her little shadow in such a situation, but she'll smooth everything over so that Taiko-kun isn't blamed. "I won't let them be angry with you." She turns her gaze up to Madara and smiles, just because she knows that on some occasions, her smile makes him weak at the knees. "You didn't say if you were staying for dinner here, Madara-sama, and I wanted to extend an invitation to dinner for the Elders as well. I'm sure they've been so busy with you that they haven't started preparations yet."

The corner of his mouth turns down. "I am sure that we don't need to trouble them with a walk to the house." He still doesn't want this meeting to occur, even though she's trying so hard to force it.

"What's this about dinner?" An old woman's voice asks from behind him. "Madara-kun, stop blocking the door and let me see my new granddaughter."

Granddaughter.

 _They did not avoid me because they don't like me._

Well, it is a relief.

Madara-sama casts a sullen glare in Taiko's direction and very reluctantly moves aside.

* * *

 **A.N.** As it turns out, Izuna is a social mastermind, Madara falls into a trap, and Kanae takes matters into her own hands.

On another note, college is busier than I thought it would be. (Who knew there were so many things to do and so many places to go?)

As it is, please accept my apology for leaving everything not updated for forever. I am writing, it's just...slow.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed. All of you are great.

~Tavina


	15. Sentimental Thoughts

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"Not me, he says, you can't love me. I am dust and dirt and nothing more.

To which she replies, the earth is dust and dirt and nothing more, and so you are my world."

— Unknown

* * *

She sets her hand in the crook of his elbow and chatters about the weather and the various goings on in the district as she and Madara-sama walk back to dinner with the Elders. He makes vague commentary when asked about any particular matter, but he seems distracted this evening.

 _Is he unhappy that I have invited guests over for dinner?_

She doesn't know if she's made the right decision. Still, he does not seem overly bothered so she will save this for now.

It is only that she does not want his elders to disapprove of her.

And if they never meet her, if all they hear of her are stories...then it would be easy for them to not approve. He thinks so highly of their opinion, these elders who are also his family.

If she wants to belong here, then she needs their good opinion or at the very least, their tolerance of her.

As of yet, she rather thinks they have reserved their judgement of her which is more open minded of them than she thought they would be.

"How many brothers did you say you had, Kanae-hime?" That is...Elder Sayuri. She is fairly certain that they know the names of all of her brothers. They are princes after all, so it is strange that she asked.

She blinks. "Six." _I have six brothers._ "Kyoya-niisama, Korui-nii, Masato-nii, Shiro-nii, Ruta-nii, and Izuna." She had thought to herself many times that Izuna is also her brother now, but it is the first time she's said so to his family.

The Elders make no comment about it, though the atmosphere of the walk shifts to pleased.

She's made the right choice then.

"And which one of them was it, that left here on wings?" This is...Elder Asahi. Madara-sama has not done a good job of introductions, but she has guessed fairly well based on his own conversation with them.

She hides a smile behind her hand. "That would be my eldest brother, Kyoya-niisama." Niisama had visited rather noticeably last time, she believes. It is only natural that they are curious about his identity. "He is, after all, a hanyou of great renown."

"But you are human." Elder Yuko.

"Quite human." She agrees with a smile. "Just barely more than an eighth youkai blood disqualifies one from being anything other than human." The Uzumaki bloodline has long been a little more than human, ever since the first Kanae married into the family, though recently, the only hanyou who lives in Uzu is Niisama.

Cousin Shinto still has octopus arms when he so chooses, though that trait is more of an anomaly then a rule. Cousin Shinto has the good luck to inherit a little more than typical resistance to the youkai glamour despite being little more than an eighth youkai. His arms are very good for hugging multiple people at once, but his focus is understandably, not the best of her cousins.

Madara-sama huffs as though the questions have offended him and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her closer "Is this an interrogation of some sort?"

"So prickly." Elder Sayuri sends her a long suffering look. "See what we must put up with even when we invite him to spend time with us?"

 _Is this another opening purposefully left for me?_

 _How should I best proceed?_

Her smile doesn't falter. "Madara-sama is not prickly." She has often teased him for being easily irritated, but her private teasing might be mistaken for public criticism. She does not want to criticise Madara-sama, for she finds his prickly moods endearing rather than unfortunate. "Madara-sama is exactly how he should be, and I wouldn't like him as much if he was any different."

Well, it seems at least she has amused Madara-sama for his heavy mood has lifted.

"Hn." Elder Sayuri smiles. She's amused at least one of them at least. Perhaps no one has ever told them that Madara-sama's grumpiness is endearing before. "Exactly as he should be, is he?"

Well, Masato-nii has been grumpy her entire life, and his personality suffers no defect for it, and he is grumpy for a significantly larger portion of time that Madara-sama.

Her husband does not prefer his irritation the same way that Masato-nii uses his own prickly moods to hide from social interaction. Madara-sama would rather be happy for much of the time, if only he is left to things that allow him to be happy.

Oh dear, Madara-sama is again rather irritated if the way he glances toward the sky is any indication.

How should she rescue this dinner?

She giggles. "Have you met any youkai before, Elder Asahi?" He has seemed so interested in Niisama. Perhaps she should ask her hanyou brother to stay long enough to greet some other people the next time he visits.

It should be soon. The wind is turning, and Niisama should have already arrived in Uzu.

"None that told me they were youkai at least."

* * *

"I'll go get dessert alright?" She rises from the table.

Madara-sama's patience, never an abundant thing to begin with, seems to be rapidly depleting.

He really is not fond of guests, even ones that are his own family, that he respects the opinions of.

Maybe this is because those same family members have started telling embarrassing stories about his childhood that he has no way of escaping or forbidding them from speaking of to her.

She rather enjoys them, but she really suspects that he does not.

Once, after he had signed the summoning contract with the cats, he had summoned Hina to help him with the laundry...which had covered the late Tajima-sama's clean clothes with an overabundance of soap suds.

She rather hopes that her father-in-law will forgive her for laughing about this rather funny situation, even if the late Tajima-sama did not find it funny at all, according to Elder Yuko.

Perhaps Madara-sama's father would find the antics of his eldest son more amusing now with the fond nostalgia of memory.

Perhaps.

She has never met Tajima-sama, and barely has any idea what sort of relationship Madara-sama shared with his father. He has certainly never expressed any interest in learning about her own father, or building a relationship with his father-in-law.

But she still suspects that Tajima-sama and Madara-sama had a good relationship, if only because she cannot imagine that Madara-sama would not love any member of his family fiercely.

They mention his mother, Harumi-san, as well, though less often and only in distant memory.

She had been opinionated and headstrong, fiery and never afraid to tell Tajima-sama that he was being stupid. Still, unsaid is that she had died very young, and Tajima-sama had mourned her loss bitterly for the remainder of his life.

Kanae frosts her cake and wonders if Madara-sama remembers his parents with more grief than love. He must have lost them so young.

She brings the cake back, and they regale her with more stories of Madara-sama's youth.

Apparently Madara-sama hated being rained on when he was a boy. It made him even more grumpy than normal.

Apparently, as a child, his resting face was a horrendous frown. She still finds him unconsciously frowning now, so perhaps his resting face has only improved a little bit with age.

"I knew it!" She leans back against him, her head on his shoulder as she threads her fingers through his hair. "Madara-sama is a cat!" She had had perhaps, a little too much to drink.

Sake has always made her a little giggly and a little freer with her words, even if it doesn't cloud her thoughts.

"That he is." Elder Yuko agrees with a happy sigh. "Our Madara-kun is as prickly as a bedraggled kitten."

Ah, the bedraggled kitten is offended at being called so. Madara-sama is a bit stiff. She forgets sometimes that he is still rather proud and would be offended at the even the thought of being called cute. Even if — and this she would rather take to the grave than admit it at the moment — he is horrendously cute sometimes.

She twists a strand of his hair around her fingers and is in private awe of the softness of it.

"Why do you call him Madara-sama, Kanae-chan?" Elder Asahi's lit his pipe, and the smoke fills the small room. "Surely he hasn't asked you to be so formal with him, has he?"

She almost laughs. "No, no, of course not." In fact, Madara-sama would prefer that she call him only Madara. "It is only his due. Madara-sama has asked me many times to simply refer to him by name." She pushes herself away from his shoulder and props her head up on one hand, her elbow resting on the table. "But I think we should try not to nettle him so much more tonight, yes?"

He is Madara-sama to her, because that is the respect he deserves.

"I don't think his heart will take much more of it." She observes with false innocence. They have been nettling him all night. Eventually, he will lose his temper, even if it is not the bad sort of lose his temper.

Still, she should try to ensure that it happens after the guests leave. "Why don't I tell you about the time when I nearly upended a tureen of seaweed soup over the heads of my twin brothers?"

The Twins are still not entirely forgiven for that incident, especially since they had caused Niisama to go battle with Habiki-san and lose some chunks of his hair.

"Oho?" Elder Sayuri leans forward. "That sounds like a story for the ages. What could make you behave so rashly, Kanae-chan?"

She is no longer Kanae-hime to them. That warms her heart. _I have passed a test then._

"Ah." She leans back in her chair and twirls her chopsticks around her fingers. "Well, you see, I was about twelve at the time, and the youkai king, Habiki-san, had taken me dancing the night before…" Of course, the Twins had noted her blush when Habiki-san called her Lovely Girl in his careless, but also serious way of his.

Habiki-san's human form is unfairly pretty.

It was only right that she blush, but of course Ruta-nii and Shiro-nii hadn't thought of it that way and made a whole big deal of it.

It is the last story of the night.

The Elders rise to go. "We've intruded long enough on Madara-kun's patience and your hospitality, Kanae-chan." Elder Sayuri kisses her on the cheek.

"It was a beautiful night. Thank you." Elder Yuko does the same.

They do like her then, or they would not be so welcoming toward her. It was the right decision to invite them.

They know now that she is only human, only a young woman not so different from the other young women they know.

"Remember the clan is always interested in heirs." There is mischief in Elder Asahi's eyes.

"I've always wanted a large family. Thank you." She has always dreamed of at least three children. Sometimes, this house is too quiet, and that unsettles her. She had been born the youngest child of seven. Home has always been bustling and loud for her, but there is a stillness in her house now that can only be broken properly by the pattering of little feet. "But I'm sure however many heirs there are, it will be with the blessing of Inari." She is not embarrassed to mention it.

Her favorite daydream is of this house ten years down the line, filled with the chatter and noise of the family Madara-sama deserves to have.

Still, her daydreams are only daydreams.

What is true is that Madara-sama seems to have wandered off into thoughts too dark for ending such a nice night once more.

* * *

The guests leave, and they are once more alone. "I didn't know you disliked guests this much, Madara-sama." She is not certain that it is the guests that are the matter, because she was sure not half an hour before, his only great concern was how to water fight in the bathroom without drenching the entire countertop.

Now he pulls the pins from her hair with slow hands.

She spins away to undo the knot of her obi before returning to him.

He sits there in the edge of the futon, his elbows on his knees. His clasped hands do not disguise the fatigue in his eyes or hide his trembling fingers.

Like a leaf in the wind, he suddenly looks so frail.

"I do not." He protests. "Tonight was fine."

No, there is something about tonight that was _not_ fine to him.

"Your hands are shaking." She picks up one of his hands in her own. It is cool, like clay from the riverbank.

He shrugs. "It is what they will do, sometimes."

He sounds resigned to it, but she doesn't want it to be so.

"What's wrong?"

He shrugs again. "I did not know you think Habiki is pretty." It is such a little thing that has caught him in its arms this time.

Perhaps it is not that she once thought Habiki-san is pretty. Perhaps it is something more.

What it is though, she has a hard time imagining.

"I was twelve, and his youkai glamor was quite strong." She sits down beside him on the futon. Youkai are naturally pretty to the human eye. It is the purpose of the glamour after all, you trap more flies with honey than vinegar. Habiki-san is not the one she loves. "You thought Niisama was pretty when you met him, didn't you? Didn't Habiki-san also look pretty in a half exotic way?"

"No." Ah, he was not so affected then.

Still she is at a loss. Why does her offhand comment bring him such grief? What path has it opened that she should close tonight before it gets worse?

"Can you tell me why it hurts you?" She squeezes his hand once. "That I thought Habiki-san was pretty when I was twelve, that is."

They sit in silence for a long moment as he organizes his thoughts into words.

He is not ignoring her, but maybe it is difficult to explain what he feels, even to himself.

"You could have married him."

 _What?_ This is really not the direction that she had imagined his thoughts going in.

 _Oh, Madara-sama. Is it really this?_

What he feels is not jealousy, for he does not love her, and jealousy only lives in a heart that loves passionately, madly but without trust. There is no jealousy between them, not in his heart, not in hers.

He trusts her, and he is fond of her, but there is no mad love in him, not for her.

"I didn't want to marry him." Everyone had said that she could easily have married Habiki-san, but she has never found that to be true.

It would not have been easy for her.

She would not have liked it.

"No?" He blinks.

"No. Not even a little bit." _Ah, but you. I am happy to have married you._ "For what it's worth, I've always thought that you are beautiful, Madara-sama." She kisses the back of his hand, and then cups his face in her hands. He is so sad tonight over something that shouldn't even be on his mind.

It would be easy, easy for her to say 'oh, you daft man. I love you.'

But she does not.

She does not, because it is not what he needs to hear.

"Your dreams are beautiful." _Do you know that? Do you know that you dream so kindly, and I admire you so for it?_ "Your happiness is beautiful." Does he know that when the light hits his laughter, his eyes are so very bright? "You are so very much more than pretty to look at, Madara-sama. Though," and here, she has to try very hard not to giggle. "You are quite pretty to look at."

He is. He really is beautiful.

Ah, but she has as good as said that she loves him.

Luckily, he does not seem to have noticed that her words border more on saccharine than wholesome for someone who is not lovestruck.

"How do you know me?" He asks her. He is no longer sad, merely pensive. "How do you know what I need to hear?"

"Because you let me know you." He could have walled her out of his life. She does not have to share his space, and yet still she does, because that is what pleases them both.

He sighs and pulls her closer. He is sweet, her husband, though he would not like to be told this either. _You love so to be told that you are dark and fearsome, but I neither fear you, nor find you dark._ "Invite guests over. You like guests."

His dark mood has passed then. His thoughts have returned to the guests who have annoyed him.

She pokes his cheek with a finger. "Ah, but you don't like guests." She absently kisses his jaw. "Especially not ones who can tell me about when you were a little boy."

He pulls away and frowns at her. "I was five."

She nods. "Mmmhmmm." _A grown man who pouts. And you say you are not cute._

"I had signed the contract with the cats the week before."

She pats his cheek. "I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Madara-sama." It is so hard not to laugh. "You can't deny it though, it was rather funny."

It does not nettle him, this statement. Instead, he seems to be considering it. "I was such a difficult child for him." So he remembers his father with more love than sorrow. He speaks of Tajima-sama easily enough. It may be a wound on his heart, but this is one scar that no longer bleeds. "I was his eldest son, and he loved me dearly, but it was not an easy life."

"It is hard to imagine that you were as mischievous as the Twins." Yet still, the stories the Elders had told said he was exceedingly fond of mischief and fun as a boy, besides being as grumpy as a wet cat. "They are responsible for exactly half of all of Chichi's gray hair."

"I was hotheaded, headstrong, and you would have had a better time herding cats than giving me orders."

He seems a little cross to have to admit this, still, he admits his faults readily enough. He doesn't hide from his own flaws.

"I think," She says slowly. "I would have liked very much to meet you."

He huffs. "I was reportedly quite scary by the time you were twelve."

He says this, but she has a hard time believing that he was fearsome enough to scare her. "Were you?"

He flops back onto the bed and hides his face underneath a pillow. "Yes."

 _But you are not helping your case._

She flops down beside him. "Fearsome warrior." She teases. "All of your enemies cowered before you in terror."

"Quite." He nods in a self satisfied way. "Though you shouldn't cower." He smushes the pillow further over his head. "Everyone else can cower to their heart's content.

"I will remember." She says as she piles another pillow on his head, like a tower. "Though I do hope that for your sake, your future son will not be as prone to misbehaving as the Twins." Else all of his lovely dark hair will go gray overnight. That would be such a cruel travesty.

He burrows his way out from under the pillow tower and stares up at her sleepily. "How close is this future that we speak of?"

She considers it. "Far yet." Well, there are ways to make this far future significantly closer, but there's no reason for that.

There are many things that must be resolved before that. At least, she would like them resolved before she seriously considers a son or daughter.

He nods. "Mmm." He pats the space beside him. "Come to bed, Kanae."

And so he has ordered.

So she decides to join him.

* * *

She has spent a rather productive morning tending to one of the herb gardens that she's found rather overgrown with weeds.

Perhaps it had been Izuna's at one point, before he gave it up for other pursuits. Perhaps one of Madara-sama's cousins had tended to it once upon a time. She's not sure.

All she knows is that she had happened upon this little garden in her own backyard that no one had told her about, and now it's hers because she will revisit it regularly.

Shiro-nii and Ruta-nii are sitting at her breakfast table across from Madara-sama.

"Aww," that sounds like Ruta-nii "You're no fun, Otouto."

She never does get to know why Ruta-nii thinks Madara-sama is no fun — it might be that Madara-sama has refused to play another game with them, or perhaps it's something else a little more serious, but whatever the case may be — the Twins leap out of their seats the moment she crosses the doorway and grab her hands and spin her around until the three of them are half dizzy.

"Shiko-chan!" They chirp. "We found your information for you!"

 _Did you both pay a visit to the Land of Lightning last night?_

 _It's a wonder you're not more tired._

Then, the Twins are made of infinite energy and a propensity towards disorder and increasing chaos. Perhaps it is no interesting thing at all that they are still so full of energy despite making a cross country trek in between bothering Neesan. "You found my information for me?"

"Uh-huh!" Ruta-nii flashes her a grin and pats her head like she's a small child. "We found a whole bunch of stuff." They must have found something really interesting, because they're in such a good mood.

Shiro-nii drops a scroll into her hands, and suddenly the jovial atmosphere is gone. "Kawaki Saemon is angry, little sister."

She frowns. There are consequences for her actions. She always knew that, and she had committed such an obvious murder anyway. "Well, it's not like he was going to be jumping for joy."

"But at least now he knows not to mess around in the Viper's lair." Ruta-nii ruffles her hair fondly, before bouncing out the door like a jumping stick. Shiro-nii follows behind him in an odd half canter. "We're going to have fun at Zuzu's! Bye bye, Shiko-chan, Otouto!"

Well, they certainly are energetic for people who took a cross country trek and haven't slept in at least two days. Sometimes she wishes that she could defy the normal sleeping routines of humans as well until she remembers that the price to pay for such a thing is one's sanity. _I suppose I am at least a little more sane than either Shiro-nii or Ruta-nii. Sleep is a small price to pay for relative sanity._ "Well, I suppose I should figure out what sort of present this is."

She half expects something like a sheet of paper. The other half of her expects a severed head, though she really hopes not.

Madara-sama calmly sips his tea. "Is everything roundabout with them?" He seems a little bit more resigned about the nature of her twin brothers than the first time he met them. Or maybe he's getting used to the Twins' special brand of special.

"Sometimes it's not." She shrugs absently as she takes a seat next to him."But then I would be concerned since that would mean things are progressing towards doomsday." It's true. The Twins are only serious when things are too unspeakable for words. She breaks the wax seal on the scroll with a quick incision with a kitchen knife and unrolls the cloth with a flick of her wrist.

It's a storage seal.

She sighs. "They didn't." _Please don't tell me that you two took a cross country murder trip. You aren't even members of the guild._

 _Shishou will be so unhappy about this._

Madara-sama leans forward to examine the scroll with interest. "What did they give you?"

It's easier just to show him.

A quick burst of chakra reveals Kawaki Saemon's severed head.

She seals the head back into the storage seal and rolls the scroll back up. "Well, I suppose that's one way to never worry about Kawaki-san ever again."

Really, she should expect this by now. The Twins get a little too happy harpooning things sometimes.

She shouldn't be the least surprised that Kawaki-san didn't measure up.

At least the Land of Lightning is down one more poisoner, and besides, she's never liked Kawaki-san anyway. He'd always been old and snippy.

Madara-sama doesn't say much in response.

 _I should just count my blessings that I don't have to make a cross country murder trip while Madara-sama is asleep_.

* * *

Neesan visits her less and asks for her to visit instead of the other way around. It is a quiet day in October when she does as Neesan requests.

In doing so, she bumps into the same Senju woman who had come with Hashirama and Tobirama to Uzu.

Literally bumps into, though she catches her basket of pastries quite easily when it is knocked from her hand by a flying elbow, and her other arm flies out quite naturally to block the stray fist aimed in the direction of her face.

"I come in peace." She laughs. "And I am so sorry to bump into you, Senju-san."

The Senju woman looks just as mortified. "My goodness." They quickly disentangle themselves. "You must be Mito's younger sister. She did say you were going to visit."

"I'm Kanae. That's true." She has not visited the Senju district often, and as a result finds herself rather lost. "I didn't catch your name though. I'm sorry."

Hashirama keeps a large house. She doesn't really know where Neesan likes to spend her time, and Neesan had forgotten to say.

Somewhere else in the house, there comes the indistinct sound of Tobirama swearing.

"I'm Toka." The Senju woman smothers a chuckle with her hand. "Oh, baby cousin…" She sighs. "I suppose we've found another one of your brothers' tricks."

She blinks. "The Twins decided to booby trap the house? They only do that when they're bored."

They hadn't seen fit to put traps all over her house.

She rather suspects that this is not because she is the favorite sister.

Ruta-nii and Shiro-nii have taken a real liking to Izuna. They probably didn't stick prank seals all over the house in deference to the fact that Izuna can't play the same games as them.

"Well," the other woman sighs. "Tobi is a sensor, but seals feel different than people, and somehow, a large majority of the ones your brothers left seem to only activate when he bumps into them." Toka casts an amused look in her direction. "Why do I think that they don't approve of my dear baby cousin?"

"I'm sure it's just because they don't appreciate his uptight nature." It's the most diplomatic answer, and it sends Toka into another fit of chuckles.

"Ah, you won't offend me if you say that Tobi's rather a stiff." It takes a while for Toka to catch her breath, but when she does, she motions for Kanae to follow her. "Come along. Mito's trying to baby proof the house, but neither Hashirama nor Tobi keeps a good grasp on the idea that one shouldn't leave kunai all over the house."

It looks like she will have to help with the kunai hunt then.

They find Neesan in a sitting room of sorts as she wipes her brow. Neesan brightens when she notices that she has guests though. "Kanae-chan! And Toka!"

She's swept up into a hug, though it's a slower hug than it used to be.

At about six months pregnant, Neesan has developed a bit of a slower walk. "My son has been moving all day." Neesan moans in her ear. "It's awful, Kanae-chan. I don't recommend this."

Kanae can only laugh. "Oh, but Neesan, you love children."

"I don't love ones that keep kicking me every five minutes with no break." The two of them collapse back onto the couch.

Still, Neesan's hands fall to protectively shielding her stomach.

"Are you still certain that my nephew will be nothing like the Twins?"

Neesan smacks her shoulder for that jab. "Kanae! It's your fault!"

She blinks. "It's my fault?" _Why is the personality of your child my fault?_

"You invited the Twins, and now they've corrupted my son." Neesan slumps, suddenly sad. "And Hashirama doesn't want to come home, and I've no idea why."

"Hashirama-nii doesn't?" She sits up instead of lounging about on Neesan's soft couch. "Wait a moment, Neesan. I'm going to drag him back."

How dare Hashirama just avoid going home.

Doesn't he know that Neesan wants him to come home?

"No, don't." Neesan waves a hand in her direction tiredly. "It's alright. All he does when he's at home is fret over everything anyway."

Toka has left them alone now.

Kanae moves a little closer and lowers her voice. "I know you worry about me, Neesan, but honestly, I worry a little about you." _Oh, Neesan, are you happy here?_

 _For I am happy here._

Neesan huffs a laugh. "Oh Kanae-chan. I'm just stressed, because of the baby, and a little upset that it'll take another four months to meet my son." Neesan squeezes her cheeks together. "You shouldn't worry if I'm happy or not. I'm just tired and full of energy all at once."

It is probably only that.

Kanae lets it go.

And just in time too, because Hashirama breezes past the door the next instant. "Mito Darling," he looks around worriedly. "Do you need anything? Are you alright? Is everything fine?"

Kanae's starting to see why Neesan says that it's okay if Hashirama doesn't come home.

He really does fret about everything.

And it's still so clear that he loves Neesan.

There wouldn't be so much concern and love in his eyes if he didn't.

"I'm right here, Hashirama." Neesan raises a hand and waves at him. "And we're both fine."

And for one small moment, she wishes that she was Neesan, not because she wants Hashirama to look at her that way, but because she wants to be loved as much as Neesan is loved.

 _I really am a little foolish._ She almost laughs to herself. _I just thought I was happy, and now I'm half jealous of something that no one can control._

Hashirama bounces over. "Hello, Kanae-chan." He murmurs half distractedly as he presses his forehead to Neesan's. "Have I told you that you're beautiful today, Mito?" He whispers half breathlessly. "Because it's what I thought when I saw you."

It's hopelessly sappy, but Neesan smiles anyway. "You told me that when you left this morning."

Hashirama slumps. "I did?"

"Tell me why you're home in the middle of the day?" Neesan asks.

Hashirama brightens in the space of a moment, all depression forgotten. "Actually, now that you mention it!" He gestures widely in the direction that he came. "I'm here because Mada threw an inkwell at my head!"

Kanae's not sure whether or not to laugh or cry. "Madara-sama threw an inkwell at your head?"

"It was a capped inkwell." Hashirama laughs. "His aim has sure improved since we were ten."

By all rights, Senju Hashirama should be someone that doesn't rub her all the wrong ways.

"Your husband's got such impressive aim these days, Imouto." There are tears of joy at the corners of Hashirama's eyes. "He told me I should go home and leave the work to him." Hashirama's smile turns almost maudlinly fond. "He really is my dearest friend."

Ah, Madara-sama's trying his hand at selflessness again.

She only hopes it doesn't hurt him.

"Ah! Right!" Hashirama abruptly heads for the door again. "Mito, Darling, I have to send Tobi to the Tower. I'll be right back!"

"Take your time." Neesan calls after him. "And slow—"

Too late.

There's a dull thump as Hashirama runs into the opposite wall. "Owww." The only bearer of the Mokuton moans. "Why do I always do this?"

She and Neesan stare at each other for a moment and burst into side splitting laughter.

* * *

 **A.N.** I'm two weeks out from finals week, so everything's hectic, hence this chapter getting published in the middle of the night, but I've been fiddling with things for months before it all clicked into place yesterday afternoon. So have a chapter about dinner, the meaning of love, and the ups and downs of life.

I want to thank everyone who supported this story, and all the other stories I write. You guys keep me going even when I'm really tired and stressed out. (I still do read every review, and they honestly do brighten my day even when I don't have time to reply to them in a timely fashion.) Thank you so much, guys.

Here's to college life. (It's the reason I don't update as fast as I used to anymore.) May I survive finals season and go home for a comforting break.

~Tavina


	16. Still Moments

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"Ah, kindness. What a simple way to tell another struggling soul that there is _love_ to be found in the world."

— Alison Malee

* * *

Hashirama returns after locating Tobirama. "Mito-love?" He asks as he wanders back in through the doorway. "My head hurts."

And sure enough, he has bruised his forehead while running into the wall. It's a light enough thing pale purple blooming above his right eye.

Kanae privately doesn't know if she is supposed to laugh or wince.

 _Surely he cannot be that stupid._ If Madara-sama survived the war with scars and a terrible sorrow, surely Senju Hashirama can't have survived by being a smiling buffoon. She's had this suspicion before, but honestly sometimes she isn't sure she believes it.

Still, at least half of his clumsiness doesn't seem like a front for anything at all.

Senju Hashirama is just...wooden.

It is odd.

Though she supposes it's a little funny, given that wooden ought best describe the man who'd ride to battle on a wood golem and grow flowers from his hands.

Neesan only laughs, her hand glowing green when she raises it to Hashirama's forehead. "What should I do with you?"

Hashirama flops down on Neesan's other side without a care in the world. "Keep me." He whispers. "So that I might adore your warmth."

 _He's gotten better at that._ Kanae thinks to herself. _Did Neesan teach him poetry?_

Neesan squeaks, her cheeks pink, but she doesn't hide from it.

As it should be.

Neesan is happy. That's all she asks.

"Well," Kanae rises. "It's time for me to go home."

Neesan protests. Hashirama protests, but she leaves the Senju compound early that afternoon.

It is not too late. There's still time run through a few katas in the courtyard before planning dinner.

Hina joins her her journey home. "Madara says that he might be home late." The cat primly turns up her nose, her tail held high behind her as she walks along next to Kanae's feet. "He is busy with paper."

Paperwork at the Tower will keep him then. She'd known that already given Hashirama's description of inkwells being thrown and friends being sent home, but it is kind of him to send Hina to her to confirm it.

 _He thought of me._ That little bit of care warms her.

Little things make her happy.

At the gate of the courtyard, she bends down to scratch Hina behind the ears and pat her head a few times. "Do you want any food?"

As a summons, Hina doesn't need to eat, but the crows, especially Nawa-san like to be offered foods when they are here in this realm.

Although it is a little bit more difficult to find food that Nawa-san doesn't turn up his nose to. Hina is perfectly satisfied with leftover fish heads.

The crows prefer more exotic food items.

"Fish would be nice."

It's settled then. Fish it is.

* * *

To use a set of curved knives against opponents with far longer reach, the key is the timing of the strikes.

It doesn't matter if the enemy uses a katana if he already has a knife buried between his ribs.

 _You are always at your most dangerous when your enemy is at unawares. Cultivate your innocent eyes, your diminutive nature, your soft words. How will they suspect you if you look no more dangerous than a delicate hothouse flower._

The style that Tanaka-shishou had taught her focuses on quick strikes, moments between action and inaction.

 _Observe. Observe._

 _Notice when they leave themselves open._

 _And when they do strike fast and strike hard._

A dead enemy stays down.

Like a viper sunning itself on the rocks, stay still until the prey has forgotten about her.

A bead of sweat slides down her temple. It's been a while since she has had to think this way.

Being away from missions and the border has left her with the ability to be herself all the time.

No, that's not necessarily true. The woman who's single touch is deadly and with a single vial can wreak havoc in an enemy camp and has always stood firm in every border skirmish is the same woman who loves dancing and cooking and flower crowns and whalebone hairpins and small children.

There is just one side of her that she likes better is all.

She would go to war for family, for her people, _all_ of her people, but given the chance to live happily, she would much rather eat pastries and weed gardens. She can be vicious and cruel and doom others to certain death to keep her people safe at night, but she does not seek war.

At least she does not think she does, does not think that there is a side of her that hungers for blood without reason.

She is only a woman like any other woman in the world, with equal capacity to be both kind and cruel.

It's just that given the chance, she would rather be kind than cruel.

Perhaps that makes her unambitious.

Another repetition of kata and she puts her blades away.

There's much to do.

"Neesan?" Izuna leans against the opposite wall, arms loosely at his side. "Can I help you make dinner?"

"Of course." He has not thought to ask before, but it's nice of him to offer. She passes him a handful of green onions and directs him toward the sink. "I am only making simple dishes for dinner today."

No roasts that will take hours, no delicately put together desserts that require much mental effort or consideration. No, today's dinner will be simple, or so help her.

There is just too much she likes making now that it is not a dish that must be enough to go around. Or well, considering it is only the three of them instead of ten of them, it is much easier to cook less but more intricately.

So if she fiddles around with little jelly squares and boils far too many peaches to make preserves for the winter, well that is simply because she now has the time to. She has plenty of time and food to do fun things with it now, which only means she wants to try making candied apples later.

Which means that once in a while, she ought to make a simple dinner.

"Are you really?" Izuna asks. There's a small smile on his lips that ought not be there.

"Why don't you believe me?" She frowns at him, half pouting. "I really mean it this time."

"Since when were you fond of making only simple things?" Izuna laughs. "I haven't eaten a meal yet where it's been so." He is scrubbing the onions with careful hands, as if feeling for each individual grain of silt by itself among the roots.

She is at a loss as to how to explain. It is so slow this way.

"It is easier to wash when you cut the roots off first." _Surely he knows that though?_

"It is?" He tilts his head to one side, thinking about it. "It probably is." He reaches over for a knife. "I've slowed things down while trying to help, haven't I?"

"Not by much." There's no need to worry. "It's not a problem. I like spending time with you."

These days, Izuna has been pulling away a little, as if giving Madara-sama and herself more space.

She is glad it it is not permanent.

* * *

 _There is still much to do._ She thinks as she sweeps out the front courtyard. _And Madara-sama will be back late. If he's going to be filling out paper maybe his shoulders will hurt..._

"Perhaps you would like a better partner?" He asks from behind her, a hand light on her shoulder. "I don't think your current one suits."

"Madara-sama!" It really is him. He's back, though early. "Are you volunteering yourself to be my dance partner?"

He had caught her dancing with the broom, though there's no shame to that. She'd been happy, thinking of the future.

She did not expect him back so early.

"I am." He holds out his hand to her, eyes pensive.

He doesn't like to dance, but he knows she does. She is happy he offered to dance with her. _So you can like to dance as well, especially if it pleases me._

She takes his hand. "I thought I wouldn't see you until late." They spin out across the courtyard in a long, slow spiral. "I'm happy that you're back so early. It's a nice surprise."

He freezes for a moment, something warring in his eyes.

 _Not pain…_

 _Longing? But what does he—_

He sweeps her into his arms, his chin coming to a rest on her shoulder. "Madara-sama?" He holds her close, his hair against her face, his breath soft against her neck.

He rarely holds her so tightly, though he does like hugs.

And even when he does, it is generally not where other people can see.

He is a person of mostly private affections, so this is rare, and while she loves it for she is not a person of private affection, it is unusual enough that it almost worries her.

Almost. He does not seem to be breaking apart over anything.

Nothing hurts him today, that is not why he has returned. So why?

"Have I told you that your hair isn't headache red?" This close, this close, she can feel his every breath.

 _Not headache red._

He is so calm to be telling her this with a voice so soft.

He had told her long ago that her hair was headache red. She has always known that he doesn't mean it, but he is teetering on the edge of telling her something, something important.

"What sort of red is it, if it isn't headache red?" She asks him, softly, softly, for she doesn't want to break the moment.

He pulls back, though he still holds her and will not let her go. Carefully, he tucks her head under his chin.

"Heartache red." There are a few strands tangled in his fingers, that he holds up to the dying light even now. "The color of my heart."

And in that moment, she doesn't care who else he might have loved, might still love, might—

No.

There is space in his life for her. There is space in his _heart_ for her.

They stand like this together for a long, long moment, her heart racing.

 _I have never loved you more._

This however, this is unusual. He had sent her message that he will be late today, and yet here he is in the early evening. He who does not often speak of his heart has all but said _you are the color of my heart._

"Madara?" She whispers. "Did something happen?"

No tension rises between them. He is comfortable and almost lazy. "No, nothing's happened." He sighs. "Except I was nearly killed by a stack of paper."

She giggles, a hand over her mouth. "Really? My fearsome warrior," she kisses his pulse lightly. "Defeated by paper." She does not think this is all he has thought about today, but he is fine now, so what does she really need to know?

"I was nearly killed." He protests. "I was not defeated by paper."

"Mmmhmm." She pulls him into the house, bare feet pattering over the floorboards. "You'll be glad to know that I bought more pastries."

"You bought more pastries?" He pokes her cheek lightly. "Do you value my health?" He is smiling.

It had not been a declaration made with kisses and flowers and poetry, but she had always thought that his happiness is like the sun come out from behind the clouds.

"Madara-sama," she laughs. "You're not being fair."

He catches her around the waist when they turn the corner and holds her loosely. " _I'm_ not being fair? You fatten me with luxuries and yet I am the unfair one?" He growls next to her ear. "How should I feel about this, wife?"

"You don't have to eat them!" She protests, though this is weak hearted at best.

"Tempting me?" He sighs. "You know I am helpless to resist."

He is so sweet today. In such a good mood.

She almost wishes that this night would last forever.

* * *

That night, they sit by the window together. His long hair is damp down his back and the loose collar of the yukata he has carelessly pulled about him shows his shoulders.

"I think my mother would have liked you." He says suddenly.

"Mm?" _Where did you get that idea from, Madara-sama?_

He looks over the darkened landscape, somewhere far away for a brief moment before he huffs and lays his head on her lap. "She loves what makes me happy. So of course she'll love you."

She traces the line of his collarbone idly, before brushing his wet hair away from his face. "Was that who you thought of earlier?"

He'd thought of his mother? Why?

He hums, absent and not quite sad. "They love you." He says, seemingly without much connection to what has been said between them. "This village."

"Does that bother you?" He has done so much for all who live here, and yet she is hesitant to say that they love him. Once upon a time, that bothered him.

"Why would it?" He pulls her hand back, but elects only to hold it lightly against his chest. "They like me better for it."

They do? It is news to her, but if he says it is true, there is no reason for it not to be. "That makes me happy."

Her fingers fall to the scar twisted over his right shoulder. It is quite old now, pale and faded instead of puckered pink like a new wound healed. "Will you tell me about this one tonight?"

So long ago he'd been injured, surely the echoes of this hurt must be less than any of the recent ones.

"My right shoulder?" The corner of his mouth tilts up. "That story isn't half as fun as another one I could tell you." She wants to hear this story though, for often the stories he tells her that are uninteresting tell her far more than ones he actually finds appropriate to tell, so she holds her silence.

After a beat, he continues. "Ten years ago, we spent the winter next to a frozen lake, north of here in Fire Country. I took Izuna and some of our friends skating." The corner of his mouth tilts down sardonically. "I believe Hikaku lost his footing, crashed into me, and we skidded across the ice to the opposite bank where I ran into a rock that split open my shoulder. You should've seen how angry my father was with the lot of us." He shakes his head. "Said we were thoughtless."

Ten years ago, he was fourteen or thereabouts, no older than Taiko certainly. "It was unlucky." She would not trust a child of fourteen to organize a skating trip.

"It's no battle scar." He huffs, shifting slightly. "I didn't save anyone or rescue a princess or win a great victory while getting it. All I got for my pain was a sobbing Izuna and a very angry Chichi-ue." He pauses and considers it. "And a two week ban from training."

She laughs at his disgruntled expression. "Two miserably boring weeks, I'm sure." She leans over and kisses his scar, skin slightly roughly beneath her lips. "But you get a kiss from a princess for your trouble."

"What a late gift." He smiles, eyes half closed. "If only I'd known I'd get a kiss for it, I would have borne those two weeks more patiently."

"Madara-sama." She sighs. "They say patience is a virtue, you know?"

"It must be one I keep in short supply." He squeezes her hand. "No one has ever accused me of patience."

She almost laughs at that. "Why am I not surprised?" _Accused you of patience is it? An accusation for you?_

He sits up suddenly, climbing almost unsteadily to his feet. "There's something I need to give you."

 _You already gave me a lot today._

He pads over to his bookshelf, bare feet quiet against the wooden floor. When he turns, there's a small box in his hands. "This ought to have been yours a long time ago."

She lifts the lid. A silver hairpin set with a single ruby flashes.

For it to be so carefully kept, it wasn't something he picked up on a whim in the marketplace… "Your Haha-ue?"

"She always wanted it to belong to her daughter." He holds it up to her hair with a sigh. "Rubies clash with your hair."

"I will treasure it." Not necessarily to wear, for it has been cast for much darker hair than her own, but because she doesn't know that Madara-sama owns anything else that belongs to her mother-in-law. "Someone else will wear it one day."

"Who?" They stand there together.

She turns the clasp of the box and looks up at him. "Our daughter?"

He laughs. "And if she has your hair?" He makes a face. "Or god forbid she have mine."

She smothers a giggle. _His hair is a little bit unruly._ "Then our first daughter-in-law."

He turns them toward the mirror on her dresser table. There they are, the two of them together. "There's no rush to find someone."

And indeed there isn't.

* * *

The Inuzuka move into Konoha a week later. Because they are a large clan, and because their arrival would move them into the district right next to the Uchiha, she and Madara-sama are there to greet their new neighbors.

"Inuzuka Tsuruko." She thrusts a hand forward. "Queen of the pack."

She's doing her best to look confident, poised and self assured, but Kanae can see how truly nervous the other young woman is.

 _She's moved far from her home too. Even if it is with all of her family, she's also far from the home she knows._

Kanae takes her hand. "Uchiha Kanae. We're so happy you've arrived."

Some of the tension bleeds out of the air. All that was needed was a warm welcome. The Inuzuka aren't so different from the other people she knows.

It would be easy to get along with these neighbors she thinks.

Neesan takes Inuzuka Tsuruko's other hand. "We hope your trip was safe." She had decided to come even though it might be dangerous.

Kanae only now thinks that it was a good idea. If she was a clan leader with all of her family by her side, she would not want two men with reputations as dangerous as Madara-sama and Hashirama-nii to be her family's only greeters either. _She_ might know that Madara-sama and Hashirama-nii do not come with bad faith, but Inuzuka Tsuruko doesn't know that.

No weakness offered is no sympathy gained. Neesan knew what she was doing.

The Inuzuka Clan Head laughs. "Safe enough." Her grin is more friendly than feral now. "You have gathered up most of the clans in Fire Country here."

As one, the clan behind her moves past the gates and into the city.

Finally, finally the move is both successful and safe.

Hashirama-nii laughs. "Haha, we've tried to promote moving here." He links arms with Neesan. "Sometimes we didn't succeed."

"You've done a good job." A man carrying a baby on a back sling comments. "It's certainly a larger settlement of shinobi than we've seen before." They are...a couple. Kanae decides.

The man is Tsuruko's husband, which means the baby in the back sling is their child.

The procession continues on, as Hashirama-nii chatters about the availability of land, and the current situation with housing and any particulars of the peace treaty he could think of. "And the Nara-Yamanaka-Akimichi lands are over there, but you'll be living next to the Uchiha lands, closer to the center of the city, Tobirama thought that district would be best for you since you've got lots of people. We marked it out this spring…"

Madara-sama has fallen behind, seemingly thinking about something. Kanae would have also slowed her steps to match his, but she turns to smile at Tsuruko's husband, and he smiles back.

She doesn't want to leave one of the guests with a bad impression.

Whatever Madara-sama is thinking about, it is not so terrible surely.

Their guests' heads snap back— "Shin!"

Madara-sama holds a small boy in his arms. "He stumbled." He bends and sets the child down. "Your son?"

No one seems overtly upset, but the tension has crept back into the air. _He would not have harmed a child._

Still, still, even with these people, Madara-sama's reputation precedes him.

 _What has he done to earn this sort of fear even as far as Mount Hoyoken?_

People do not fear so deeply without reason, but she has seen no reason for this. He might have been angry and sad and tired when they first met, but he is no monster, only a man, so she is confused.

 _I live with him. He cannot hide it from me._

What do they think he's done?

"Yes." The man smiles, a hand in his son's hair. "Our Shin."

Madara-sama offers him a hand. "Uchiha Madara."

"Inuzuka Kaien." Kaien-san takes his hand. "Thank Uchiha-san, Shin." So they are determined to be friendly then.

She still wonders what they heard. Perhaps someday she will ask.

"Must admit." Kaien-san drawls slowly from behind her. "Your reputation says you would've sliced my arm off by now. You really haven't acted at all demonic."

Demonic. _Oh, Madara-sama. What has made your past a topic not to be discussed?_

The man she knows is kind, but the reputation that precedes him is not kind.

"We are no longer at war." Madara-sama pauses for a moment. "Peace changes all of us."

This is enough. She drops back to walk with them."How old is your son, Kaien-san?"

"Four this year." Kaien-san has a booming laugh. "How long has your sister been expecting?"

"Six months, nearly seven now." She coos at the baby in his sling. _A cute little one with cute little fangs and such chubby cheeks._ "And your younger child?" _Will Neesan's baby be so cute?_

She definitely wants a cute nephew or niece, though she supposes any nephew or niece of hers would be very cute.

"My daughter is currently ten months old." She hears the undercurrent of pride in Kaien-san's voice and knows that they are a happy family.

Perhaps the Inuzuka are a happy clan in general. If so, it would be nice that they are neighbors, for the Hyuga are not happy neighbors.

She has discovered that by accident when she ran across the boy she'd dragged about by the ear the other day and found that his chichi did not _care_ that she had dragged him about.

What sort of Chichi doesn't care about such a thing?

"And her name?" Madara asks. He offers the baby one of his fingers and smiles when a small hand wraps around it.

"Tsukiko." _Moon child. That's a beautiful name._

They make the walk back to the house together, her hand on his arm after it is certain that the Inuzuka will settle in well.

"What are you thinking of, Madara-sama?" He is not unhappy, even being reminded of his past as he was today.

He smiles. "A dream for the future."

* * *

Their gathering is at Inami's house tonight, so that's where she goes after dinner, her sewing basket on her arm. It is a small gathering of friends, not the large group of clanswomen she had first expected.

Besides herself and Inami, there's only three other women who often frequent these weekly gatherings. They're all a little older than herself, twenty-three to twenty-five compared to her eighteen, but they are pleasant, and she doesn't mind.

She's spent much of her life around people older than her.

Every month they choose a project that will benefit the members of the clan.

"Before peace, our efforts were often for those who had recently lost someone." Shizuki had told her once, perhaps two months ago, the offhand comment skipping out of her mouth. "But we have not lost anyone for two years now, since peace was established, so we've turned to better things."

And even though it had been summer then, Kanae had felt the chill in her chest. So much loss that a new project could be chosen every month.

If she had to live in constant fear, how would she change?

Still, there is peace now in Fire Country, so she ought to give thanks and not think of war.

The current project is baby clothes.

Naori-chan and Riku-san are expecting their first child this winter, so the rest of the women in the clan are doing their best to fill in the wardrobe of the child before the baby's arrival.

"A surprise, you understand." Inami sets down a tea tray, a fond smile pulling at the corners of her lips. "But at this point, more of a tradition, so I don't know that Naori-chan will be surprised."

"Ah, there's no trouble making it a surprise." Shizuki unfolds her quilt squares, absently arranging them this way and that on the table before her. "Don't say anything to Naori-chan, and she'll be so shocked when we throw the party for her. It'll be such fun."

"I see you started without me this week." Hanako skips into the room. "And that Shizu's still working on that quilt of hers."

"It was only supposed to be a small project." Shizuki waves a hand in the direction of her quilt squares. "But it keeps getting bigger and bigger."

"Inami," Hanako calls deeper into the house. "Sayu is busy with her garden tonight and can't make it. She was in a vicious battle with a groundhog eating her lettuce when I passed her."

The design Shizuki's been fitting together these past few weeks is composed of black and blue squares, the designs stitched in with dark thread and red beads.

So far, it looks spectacular.

But yes, quite a bit bigger than when she had first planned it.

Hanako squeezes herself onto the sofa between Shizuki and Kanae. "You always do that, Shizu." She reaches into her bag and starts pulling out tiny shoes. "But I finally had a little time this week to finish these. What do you think?"

Pair after pair of tiny shoes join the first pair on the table. They get larger and larger as well, from baby feet to that of a small child.

Kanae picks up the smallest pair. "Do babies wear shoes?" She has never seen a baby who did, though she rarely has the chance to take care of babies. Still, most babies with feet this small don't wear shoes, since their feet are wrapped in blankets anyway. It is not that cold here in Fire Country, though everyone assures her that it gets colder in winter.

Still, from the descriptions she is almost certain she's used to colder winters.

"Of course babies wear shoes." Inami comes back from the kitchen with sweets. "What if they kick off the blanket? Their feet have to stay warm."

She frowns. _Have I ever seen a baby with shoes? I didn't wear shoes when I was a child, did I?_ She doesn't remember a time when she did.

"Do children in Uzu not wear shoes?" Shizuki asks needle flashing in the soft evening light as she pieces two squares together.

"I don't know." Kanae's gift to the new child is a set of kimono shirts. "I don't remember anyone wearing shoes."

She had never worn shoes, it was pointless when she spent so much time on the beach and in the water. Shoes had always dried so slowly and filled with sand that it was easier to leave them behind.

It's not like that here, but she rather likes the feeling of ground beneath her bare feet, and it is not cold enough to bother with them, so most times she still doesn't wear them.

She supposes that a lot of her friends never wore shoes unless it was winter.

"How can you not remember?" Hanako shoves a piece of mochi into her mouth. "You lived there."

Shizuki elbows her lightly. "Did you remember if babies need shoes before you had one?" Shizuki is the only of them as of yet still unmarried.

"Well, of course I did." Hanako frowns, fingers absently tapping her thigh. "We always put shoes on Keiko-chan."

"I don't have any little siblings." Kanae sews another button on the fourth shirt. "Maybe babies do wear shoes." Did any of Naosu-jisan's children wear shoes? She doesn't remember.

"I'm sure Naori-chan will appreciate them." Inami cuts in. She's hunched over, perched on the edge of her rocking chair embroidering the Uchiwa onto the edges of a baby blanket. "Maybe it really is true that in Uzu they don't have baby shoes. Kanae-hime doesn't wear shoes often."

"I should start to." She sighs. "My feet get dusty here." And there are no convenient stone paths to prevent it.

"Well, it's not as if Madara-sama minds it." Hanako hands her a piece of mochi. "And no one else does either, so you don't have to unless you want to."

The dessert is sweet in her mouth. "That's true."

* * *

 **A.N.** There's probably a lot of cute things in this chapter! Welcome to extra scenes of Madara and Kanae being cute, and an idea of where Madara's mother's hairpin went since we haven't seen it in lots of chapters now.

I'm reaching a really busy point in the semester, which means that updates are less frequent than they were and writing an original short story for my fiction class which is coming along well. Still, the regularly scheduled fanfiction will continue.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed! It really means a lot to me.

~Tavina


	17. On the Cusp

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"You are in my blood like holy wine

You taste so bitter and so sweet

I could drink a case of you, darling

And still be on my feet."

— Joni Mitchell, _A Case of You_

* * *

The evening grows later, softer somehow as the sun sets behind the trees. Here in Konoha, the sunsets are softer, the twilights bluer. Maybe it is the sweeping canopy of the tall trees. Maybe it's just how the light reflects when it is away from water, so that it turns twilight soft like blue smoke.

She likes it, though she is relieved that it's cooler now.

She is unused to the heat of summer noons, especially since there are fewer bodies of water to swim in. If she wants to go to the river, it is at least a bit of a walk through dusty streets before she can get there, and the walk back with wet feet is terribly inconvenient. Still, it is not so terrible, just uncomfortable, and she is glad that it is no longer so unpleasantly _warm_.

"Well, it's time for me to go." Hanako rises, shaking the wrinkles from the front of her kimono. "Keiko-chan will get nervous if I'm not back soon. Souta-kun gets fussy before his bedtime." Hanako's son turns two this year, a cute child with chubby cheeks and soft black hair.

Souta-kun sometimes comes to these sorts of gatherings, but then he would inevitably be cooed at and fed sweets by them all. Hanako had worried he would grow up spoiled on so much love, so Souta-kun only makes an appearance rarely now.

Perhaps it is a trait all the Uchiha share. They are all adorably cute as children, and generally grow up to be beautiful. She half wonders if Madara-sama was an adorable child as well before deciding that he had to have been.

He did grow up to be beautiful after all.

"I'll walk with you." Shizuki puts her quilt squares back in her basket and offers Hanako a smile. "Your house is on the way."

She and Imani bid goodbye to half their gathering.

Kanae watches as the two women disappear around the bend in the path, their arms linked as they chatter on. Hanako must have said something, for Shizuki throws her head back and laughs.

And for a brief moment, she is reminded of how she and Chihaya used to walk along the beach, poking fun at the sailors staggering off of the fishing boats. They are funny to watch without their land legs as they sway and falter on their way through the sand.

She hasn't heard from Chihaya in a while.

 _She might be around the bend by now. On her way home. I should write to her. Maybe she will come to visit me, and we shall poke fun at the Hyuga next door. Some of them do stare so strangely._

"Thinking about something?" Inami's there by the doorway to offer her a plate of grapes. "And don't mind them leaving early, Kanae-chan. I'd be happy if you stayed longer."

"About a friend. She is a few years older than me, twenty-two now." She thinks about it more while plucking a grape from the plate. "Hanako and Shizuki reminded me of her."

"Ah." Inami nods. "You could invite her to spend the winter. You can bring her to meet us!"

Kanae almost laughs at this. Chihaya is an extraordinary harpooner, an excellent dancer, courageous, and quick-witted, but patient she is most certainly _not_. Everyone knew it. Okui Chihaya is relentless, restless, a born wanderer of the high seas. She could curb her impatience maybe, but never for very long.

At least, there's no patience for sewing in Chihaya. The two of them had always spent more time diving and baking clams than sitting in beautiful rooms.

"I might have more luck if I invited her for a sparring session." She muses. "Chihaya never had the patience for sewing."

Inami blinks. "But what does her family think? Surely even if she doesn't enjoy it, it's still necessary."

What a strange sentiment. As far as she knows… "If she has something that needs fixing when out whaling, she'll probably ask one of the Twins to do it." While not terribly artistic, the Twins are certainly decent at patching holes, sewing up tears and setting bones. It is only fair for a lifetime of vagabond wandering that they know such things. "If she's at home, I think she leaves that sort of thing to Asuran." She shrugs. "It's not important really."

Her brother doesn't mind it much. At least, Asuran's never muttered about his little sister running off and leaving him with all the mending, despite him sitting around on more than one occasion mending clothing that wasn't his own.

"She leaves such work to men?" Inami sits back down in her chair with a slight thump. "Good grief, how does she have functioning clothes?"

"Why wouldn't she?" It isn't exactly approved of for Chihaya to pawn her rips and tears off on other people, but it's hardly frowned upon either. "She'd probably have a harder time of it if she had to do it herself."

While neither Ruta-nii nor Shiro-nii are particularly artistic, they are certainly more competent in such things than Chihaya.

And Asuran is _definitely_ more competent at mending clothes, embroidery, _and_ knitting. If the border guard did not call to Asuran like the song of the sea, he would have been a craftsman like Masato-nii, a tailor or a painter.

"In Uzu we've always thought that those who could do it better ought to do it first." She plucks another grape from the plate.

There's a brief pause as Inami thinks it over. "I suppose so."

Ah, there are some things less easy to accept in their differences than not wearing shoes.

That's alright, she supposes. That's normal.

Some differences are too big to accept without thinking it over.

"Invite her anyway." Inami smiles. "I'm sure she'll like to eat desserts with us, even if she doesn't have the patience for sewing."

And that is how she knows that the world is changing. She has changed someone's mind. Inami's willing to welcome one of her less traditional friends, even if Okui Chihaya _isn't_ like the women Inami knows. Inami will not ask her to change just to suit Konoha's narrow definition of womanhood.

Konoha will change if she pushes just enough to move the needle and not enough to capsize the boat.

"I'll tell her. She loves friends." Chihaya is friendly by nature, generous and blunt but giving. She will like it here, even if these people are not her first choice of friends.

Even when they were young, Chihaya had prefered the surfers, the divers, and the fishermen who hugged the coast far more than those who lived on land.

She will write to Chihaya then.

* * *

She finds Madara-sama on the walkway when she returns home, tea beside him, staring up at the moon.

He is...lost in his thoughts if he has not seen or heard her come in, for she has not taken care to sneak up on him.

She watches as he takes a sip of his tea and huffs, still staring blankly up into the sky.

She muffles a giggle behind her hand. _You look so irritated, 'dara-sama._

 _Who has dared to disturb your peace tonight? And is a person or is it your own thoughts?_

The person who tears him down to the most isn't anyone else. The person who tears him apart the most is sitting in front of her, his arms on his knees.

Still he does not notice.

He is really distracted then, tonight. She wonders what has made it so.

"Madara-sama?" He looks up when she opens her mouth to talk. "Your tea's grown cold." There's no steam rising from the cup, no heat when her hand passes over it.

"I was thinking." He moves aside, pushing the tea tray away as he does so to make space for her beside him.

She sits next to him, their knees almost brushing but not quite. "What about?"

"The Shimura clan wants to join Konoha." He sighs and leans a little closer. Their knees press together. "I am uncertain how the village ought to proceed."

"And what are the ways you can proceed?" She knows that this village is a gathering of clans that were once hostile to one another, but she doesn't know the process of more clans joining the village. How does one decide? How does one set aside those old wounds and trade them for neighborly hospitality?

While there are sometimes tensions in her father's kingdom, those disputes seem easier to resolve than this one. There are few blood grudges in Uzu, and none between clans.

"They could enter the village." This is perhaps what he wants to do, but he holds back. He's hesitating. _Why?_

"And what prevents this from being your choice?" _Why do you falter?_

A corner of his mouth turns down. There's something wry about this look on him, like he doesn't believe he has a reason to be sad, but is sad anyway.

"Fear." _What do you fear?_ He is not a weak man by any means. What does he have to fear?

She turns to him. "And what is the worst that could happen because of these fears?"

For a brief moment, he freezes.

She has never seen him so fearful before. _What do you fear?_

 _We are happy, you and I._ Their lives are calm, peaceful. It has been a good summer, a quiet one. The past is distantly behind them. Whatever war he is afraid of, it is so far behind them now.

But he has not left it behind. He still lingers so close to it she's afraid that it'll drag him back.

He tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, fingers lingering against her cheek for a moment too long. It is warm in the cool autumn air. "I could lose more family."

He — _I will not leave you so easily, Madara-sama. Trust me._

She smiles. "And if I told you that you should trust us?"

He pulls her close, an arm around her waist. "This is not a matter of trust."

"Oh, but it is." Why can't he see it? "If you trust that we are not made of glass, then would you fear us breaking so much?" He will not lose anyone by letting more people into Konoha. He might even gain a new ally, or a friend, or maybe he will gain nothing, but he won't _lose_ anyone.

"And what of the ones I have already lost?" So his fears run deeper than that. "They were not made of glass, but still they died."

She sucks in a long breath. "It isn't the small clans you fear, is it, Madara-sama?" She knows that he has lost his parents, that there are brothers he can never mention, the way his heart is rubbed raw from the loss.

She had…not forgotten exactly that this world has not been kind to him. It is just, she'd forgotten how that would affect him now.

His family might not be as whole as he would like it, there are still so many missing pieces that can never be replaced, but she likes to think he is happy with the way things are now. She's forgotten that it would be hard for him to accept it, to trust that what he has now will not leave him behind. So many people have left him behind.

He fears only what has happened before.

"No." He agrees.

She sets a hand on his cheek, turns his head until their eyes meet, and does her best to give him the truth. "If there is peace now, and neither Izuna nor I leave the village, shouldn't we fear your death more than you fear ours?" Konoha is a peaceful place for the most part, and while they may not look it all the time, neither she nor Izuna is defenseless.

The world outside Konoha is far more dangerous, and only he has reason to be called away.

She ought to fear losing him more than he fears losing her.

"Life is senseless." He tells her, a hand holding hers. "And death even more so."

"Yes." She agrees. "Death is senseless and painful, but 'dara-sama, we will not leave you so easily."

 _Trust us._

Life gives and takes without so much reason. Death takes and takes and takes and leaves him in a darker place each time, but neither she nor Izuna will leave him behind without a fight.

"You won't." He agrees. "I won't let you."

She kisses the end of his nose, a quick tap made with more laughter than levity. "As you say."

He picks her up, one smooth gesture, and they head in that way, tea tray and sewing basket forgotten on the walkway. "I do say."

He attempts to sound imperious, but only manages somewhat disgruntled.

"Mmmm." She contains her laughter but only just. "So the fearsome warrior has declared. So it must be."

He frowns at her, but his eyes are laughing. "If you say that to me again, I shall drop you."

Her smile widens. "You won't."

He suddenly freezes again, a peculiar look on his face that she has a hard time placing. "Probably not." He mumbles.

Is he... _blushing?_

A small silence lapses between them.

He _is_ blushing! But why? She hasn't said anything unusual.

There is nothing out of the ordinary. She teases him so all the time from their first days together. It is no different now.

She just called his bluff. He wouldn't drop her. It is such a small thing to say.

What has caused him to blush so?

"Do you like children?" What a strange change of topic.

Does she like children? Does the sun rise in the east? Does the moon pull the tide?

"I do!" Her family will be bigger by one very soon. "I'm really excited about Neesan's baby."

"I meant your children."

 _But I don't have children?_

"Would you like any, that is, do you think that."

Oh. _Oh._ Well that is a very different story than her niece or nephew. She is very much interested in what brought this on.

"Why?" She examines his face closely. He flushes harder. He turns dull red when he blushes too hard and honestly she finds that cute. "'Dara-sama, what _are_ you thinking of?" She half suspects she knows.

The thought is sweet.

The thought is sweet, and she has always been affectionate, without reason to hide her affections. She kisses him, hoping he understands how sweet the direction her thoughts has taken.

If possible, he looks more flustered when she pulls back. The flush dusting his cheekbones turns a shade darker.

She likes him when he is like this. It is not as if he is an overly collected man, but it is funny to see him flustered, especially because of her. It makes her feel warm.

"You are not good for my blood pressure." He tells her with mock seriousness. "You aren't good for my pride either."

"You," She thinks it over. She has asked him a question she would like to know the answer of. _What are you thinking of?_ "Are dodging my question."

"You aren't answering mine either." He makes a very childish face. She almost bursts out laughing, but he likely will not appreciate it. And if he doesn't well, she'll never be able to know what he was thinking of. "And I asked first."

 _Well, there is no harm in telling him of my dreams for the future. The worst he can do is say that three children is too many for him to love._

"If I tell you that I aspire to at least three children who will make you prematurely gray with worry will you tell me what you were thinking about?" Children are good for worrying, at least, her Chichi has always said so when confronted with another daring escapade pulled off by the Twins.

"I will not have gray hair." He is _sulking._ He will never admit to it, but he is sulking all the same. "You are very horrible if that is what you want children for."

That does it. She can contain herself no longer.

She sits on the floor and howls with laughter.

Oh! It is so rich coming from him.

"I wish I could remember your face forever." It takes her forever to catch her breath because he looks so disgruntled, she bursts into hysterics every time she looks up. "You look so grumpy. Is it really so bad?"

"It is." He is so serious! "I don't like that plan of yours." Ah, but that is a lie. He has considered it and found three children acceptable. He just doesn't like the idea of gray hair.

 _I didn't know that vanity suited you so well._ She should have known though. A cat is not a cat without at least those faint shreds of vanity.

"'Dara-sama," she begins. _I didn't know you were so concerned about your hair._ She wants to say.

"Say it again." He interrupts her sentence. The look on his face is not exactly shock, no it's…pleased?

Wanting. She decides. He has never heard someone call him that before, and he wants to hear it again enough to ask.

"Dara-sama? Is it the name you like?" _Would you like it if I always call you this?_

"Mmm." He seems to consider it. "Say it again."

"Dara-sama." She repeats herself. _You do like it!_

It is not what she expected, but she should have.

He pulls her close. "We should begin soon if you want to make me prematurely gray, shouldn't we?"

She laughs at this. "Else you will go gray by yourself." Her sigh is exaggerated. "That would be a pity."

"Mmmm." He hums. "A pity is it?"

It is not a pity.

When she hears that the Shimura will be moving the Konoha, she knows that he has put the past behind him a little more.

Just a little more, and it is so very very much enough.

* * *

Izuna leaves the house before breakfast. She hears slow footsteps make their way down the hall and the outer door slide open.

"Izuna-kun?" She calls after him. "Breakfast isn't ready yet?"

Where is he going so early before even the sun?

"Asahi-jiisan wanted to see me." Izuna pauses in the doorway, weak morning light spilling all around him.

She does not think that he is speaking truthfully exactly. Izuna does not lie well, much like Madara-sama, so it is true that he has to see Elder Asahi today, but when exactly, well, not right at this moment.

He is leaving the house for some other reason then.

He is leaving the house for some other reason, but she doesn't need to know exactly what that is. He is his own person with the right to come and go as he pleases.

"I won't keep you then." She beams in his direction. There are lots of reasons why he might want to leave. She doesn't need to know if he doesn't want to say. "But make sure to eat while you're out?"

A corner of his mouth tilts up, a soft smile for the soft light. "I will, Neesan. Don't worry."

She turns to go back in.

That's perfectly enough.

Madara-sama stumbles into the kitchen half an hour later, covering his yawn with a hand. "Is Izuna not up yet?"

"He left before you." It is comical the way his face falls, as if he really could _expect Izuna_ to turn into the lazy lie-about. Alas, that fate is reserved only for him. "I believe he said he had to see the elders today."

"Ah." Madara-sama nods, not entirely registering the words. "Well it's nice that he's going out again."

She'd thought — she has thought many things, but she had not thought that perhaps Madara-sama liked the thought of Izuna going out.

"You don't mind?" _I thought you did._ Izuna certainly thinks that his elder brother minded such things. There is a reason he stays in the house most of the time, occasionally with visitors who will read to him on occasion.

Madara-sama blinks. "I...did. Once." His admission is a small one, but it is not one that he would have made even a month ago. He would have denied it completely. "But you told me that I should trust." _So this is me, trusting._

She doesn't live with a heartless man. He hears every word she said, he always has.

And those words affect him more than she can see.

"I'm glad." She ladles soup into two bowls, soup spoons clinking as she walks to the table. "It's only miso soup and pastries this morning."

She'd left fish heads out for Hina on the back porch, but they are as of yet, untouched.

"You cannot spoil me on all mornings." When she thought of her life in the future last winter, pacing back and forth at night on the sea's ice between guard rotations, she had not thought of this — had not thought of the way the sun hits his hair and gives it blue highlights, had not thought of the fond light in his eyes, had not thought of him at all really, had only thought of the children who were starving.

She'd thought of herself sometimes, in the depths of the night when the winter wind cut sharp. She'd thought with something bitter settling to the bottom of her stomach that she would not see Chichi and Haha again before they are old, that she would miss them.

She'd thought of never seeing Uzu again.

But this, she had not thought of this.

"Well," she smiles as she takes her seat at the table across from him. "Maybe I want to."

At this, he laughs. "I didn't say you wouldn't want to. I said you cannot." He turns his eyes away, though she sees the smile on his lips that he does not hide. "But I cherish every day you do."

 _I cherish every day you do._

He does not have to say that he loves her.

She knows perfectly well that he does.

He catches her hand after breakfast. "Are you busy today?"

No, she is not particularly busy. "No, I was only planning to do the laundry and perhaps go out to market to see if there are still anymore eggplants." Izuna loves eggplants.

The autumn chill is creeping in, soon there will be no eggplants until summer.

Maybe she'll roast some for dinner if he gets home before lunch. Her brother-in-law would be delighted.

"I wanted to take you to see the harvest."

He is still smiling.

"The harvest?" She stops clearing away dishes. "Inami had mentioned it. I didn't think…" _think that you enjoyed such things._

What would he even look like as a farmer with a rake and seeds in hand? Would he wear a big straw hat over his hair?

Does he frown at the radishes? Does he scowl at the rice?

"You didn't think I'd have any interest in it?"

She frowns. "That's not quite what I meant." That is not to say that he can't have any interest in farming. Such things are not out of the realm of impossible. It is just difficult with what she knows of him. "You're not fond of cooking. So I assumed you don't care for vegetables either." That has to be it.

He's never expressed any interest in vegetables, with picking, cooking, or eating them really. So where does his love of the harvest come from? He clearly finds it important for him to want her to see it.

He laughs at her. It is more in fun than in mockery, but it is still another side of him she hasn't seen before. "I do know how to pick vegetables even if I don't know how to make them edible later."

She does not know all there is to know of him though she falls asleep beside him every night. There is much he will have to tell her. There is much she has to learn.

She still imagines him scowling in between tomato plants, and she's not sure how to feel about this endeavor.

He makes a face, as if remembering something unpleasant, but rises soon after."Will you come with me?"

She takes his hand. "Of course." If it's important to him, it's important to her as well.

He pulls two straw hats out from under the table and plops one of them on her head, fingers lingering on her chin. "We ought to get going then. Work should have already begun today."

For a moment, he stares at her as though he'd never seen her before. Then he turns his head away.

"Have you ever harvested rice before?" His voice is rough, words sticking in his throat.

He has lost something suddenly, some fragment of himself resurfacing almost violently.

"I haven't." She swings their clasped hands back and forth. "You will have to teach me then."

"Hn." The past falls away.

* * *

He takes her to fields outside the village walls that she's never seen before. She has explored most places inside the walls, but the surrounding forests and cleared fields outside in the rest of the Land of Fire are foreign to her.

It is not really that surprising.

She has travelled to the Land of Fire before, with Shishou, but she is unfamiliar with it, unlike her time spent in the Land of Water. There she'd been undercover, free to wander the country.

In the Land of Fire, she'd been at some warlord's court, posing as Shishou's granddaughter.

Hikaku greets them with an unimpressed look on his face. "You're late, Madara-sama."

"I was detained."

Ah yes, detained.

Hikaku knows exactly what Madara-sama means, because he looks _ecstatic_ to hear that Madara-sama slept in. "You could find a better excuse perhaps…Well, your paddy is over there."

The sheer size of the fields are impressive.

All of the rice fields she's seen before in passing were never so bent heavy with grain, never so large as these. _Are these the Uchiha lands or Konoha lands?_ She only sees Uchiha clan members here.

Even back in Uzu, she'd never gone to see the rice harvest. She was daughter of a king, and her time had always been in demand elsewhere in the autumn, especially as the whaling boats came in to roll the oil barrels down the plank and carry the large rib bones out of the hold.

She'd never been to harvest vegetables on the outer islands.

Hikaku beams when he turns to her. "Oh, Kanae-hime! It's good to see you."

She covers a smile with a hand. It figures he's happy to see her. She visits Inami frequently now, and Hikaku is rarely far in the evenings. "It's good to see you too, Hikaku-san." He's a good conversationalist.

"Have you ever been to a harvest before? Do you need a sickle?" He is happy to be here standing on the dirt path between the paddies amongst the brown stalks bobbing gently in the breeze.

"I haven't before." She takes the sickle he offers her gingerly, careful to keep the blade away from people. "And I think Masato-nii tried to teach me how to fight with a kama once, but it ended badly." He had to give it up as a bad job after she'd nearly taken off her own left hand.

Sickles are not intuitive weapons.

It was only a scare, but Masato-nii had claimed that his heart wasn't going to take another shock like that one, and they'd put off more lessons indefinitely.

She'd picked up her curved knives not two weeks later and never looked back.

Madara-sama tugs at her sleeve. "Don't listen to him. He only wants to rope you into doing more work. Come with me."

They end up at the closest end of the field Hikaku had pointed them to.

"Watch me first." He wades in like he has done so all his life, the motions steady and sure. "Like so."

She watches him carefully, trying to mirror what he has done. "Like so?" She misjudges the resistance of the rice stalks and cuts through them unevenly. Where her sickle has passed it looks like the serrated path of a saw.

He comes to stand behind her, setting a hand over hers, shifting her grip ever so slightly until it is firmer. "Like so."

They make the next swing together.

That looks much better.

"A steady hand is better." He steps back.

"Where do the cut stalks go?" She holds them awkwardly in her hand. There's no basket or other container to put them in.

"Behind you. There will be people by to collect it later for drying and threshing." He has gone on ahead, already lost to a comfortable rhythm.

"Alright." They continue together across the field in a content silence.

"Is this common in autumn here?" They pause for water on the other side of the field. Something about him is more open here in this bobbing sea of rice outside of Konoha's walls. He looks at home here with a straw hat on his head, sweat sliding down his temples, a sickle in hand.

There's mud on his shoes, but he doesn't seem to care.

Remove the weight of Konoha from his shoulders, and he is only a man.

He is only a man who wants to be happy.

"We do this every year." Taiko-kun chirps before handing Madara-sama a package that can only be their lunch and racing off onto the next group of workers.

They end up sitting on the edge of their field, in the dusty path packed hard by the passing of many feet on the edge of the paddy. "It's different than the autumn traditions we have at…"

She was going to say at home, but she has two homes now — the home where she grew up and the home she is building. They are both home, so how can one home be more home than the other?

"At home?" He asks her.

"It isn't home anymore." She says slowly. "It's not the same." No, it would never be the same even if she left Konoha and returned to Uzu forever.

She is not the same.

She would leave such a large piece of her heart here with him that she would never be happy like she is now.

She tilts her head back and looks at the sun. No, the sun rarely burns so raw in Uzu, but it does here. It is different here, but it is not a bad sort of different.

"Tell me about your traditions." She is watching the sun, and he is watching her.

She thinks about it. "The whalers and fishing boats will be back by now, before the bay freezes." Soon the bay will begin to freeze, chunks of ice lurking treacherously beneath the surface of the sea pulled by the harsh strength of the whirlpools. "We would have a festival after the last of the boats make their way back."

The last festival of the year before winter grips them in a cold grasp and the border stakeouts become longer, darker and colder.

"They leave for a long time then?"

"Months. They leave when the ice breaks and return when it's forming." They leave in early spring, and return in the autumn, summer passing them by on the high seas.

She fiddles with a stray rice leaf between her hands as she looks out across the field. Shiro-nii and Ruta-nii had come to Konoha this summer especially at her request, but these days they would only ever spend winter at home. "We'd have a harvest too, of course, but never quite like this."

No it is not large like this and she has never seen it happen.

Most of the time, it is not a joyous occasion.

The rice had failed many times when she was a child before the latest failing, so there'd never been much to celebrate in that regard.

"You don't have to worry any longer. What is mine is yours." His words cut to the heart of her.

They never spoke of that part of their relationship, not really.

She knows that rice shipments make their way out of Konoha to Uzu once every month, but they'd never spoken of it.

She turns the words over again in her mind. _What is mine is yours._

They are old wedding vows. _What is mine is yours for I share it freely with you._ He has gone far beyond the words of any contract her chichi has made him sign.

"Thank you, Madara-sama." She means it.

He turns back to look at her, and in that moment, he shines brighter than the sun. He is sweaty and covered in yellow dust, stray rice stalks and leaves clinging to his sleeves, but she has never seen him happier.

He is _beautiful._

He laughs and pulls a rice stalk out of her hair. "Of course."

* * *

 **A.N.** Izuna is going somewhere to see someone. Who this is, and why he's leaving the house before sunrise well, that remains to be seen.

I live! And I update! (Occasionally.) Finals are over. Summer's here.

Maybe I'll update more often. (Hey, I can dream)

~Tavina


	18. Like Rain, Like Snow

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Beta'd by drowsyivy, aflowerydeath, UmbreonGurl, and Fishebake.**

* * *

"Love, if you love me, lie next to me. Be for me, like rain."

— Robert Creely, " _The Rain_ "

* * *

She is woken in the middle of the night, by of all people, _Izuna._

"What's happening?" She asks, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. _Is there something wrong?_ She cannot think of anything, but that does not mean there's _nothing._

"Naori-chan's baby's coming." The words wake her faster than anything else could've.

Child.

There's a child coming.

With his news delivered, Izuna continues onwards, as unerring in the half dark as he is in full daylight.

She'd sewn the child shirts, but there is still so much to _do._ Is she expected to do anything in particular? If she were born an Uchiha, she would know, but alas she was not, and Madara-sama never does tell her of these things.

She believes it is half because he does not care if she does not conform to expectation, and half because he is too tired to bother. But even if he does not mind, she does.

Even if he doesn't give half a thought to worrying or berating her for not knowing any of his traditions — he has to remember his own traditions, he would, wouldn't he? — that does not mean that everyone in this new clan she finds herself in feel the same way.

Oh, she is sure that Inami and the others find her sometimes confusion with the way certain habits creep up on her, like the tide slowly coming in, until it's up to her thighs when it'd only been at her ankles before, less endearing and more problematic than they say it is.

 _A conversation to save for later_ , she decides. For right now, there are more immediate and pressing concerns.

"I'll be right over." Inami had assured her that there are midwives and medics and all sorts of people there to help assist with the birth, but she's still worried.

Naori-san had been so worried just a week before.

She remembers the worry, and she can't exactly shake it. It is to be their first child, and she imagines that such an event is far more nerve wracking than say, a second or third child.

And yet, according to Niisama, Chichi-ue had still been nervous at her birth.

She'd been his seventh child, her Haha-ue's sixth.

There'd been no further reason to be nervous, but it had been funny that they had anyway.

Madara-sama chooses this moment to throw a heavy arm over her middle. "Where are you going?" he asks, groggy and half awake.

It's on the tip of her tongue to say "I'll only be gone for just a moment."

But that's not true. Who knows how long it is going to take? A baby doesn't exactly choose a time to arrive because other people find it convenient. She would say that this time is very inconvenient.

She huffs as she pushes his arm up. "Naori-san's baby is coming."

This produces...no reaction from him.

Well, except that his hand is now clinging to her sleeve. "'S cold without you."

"Then come with me." She prods his cheek with a finger, causing him to actually open one eye to glance at her balefully. She is half sure he is _supposed_ to come with her.

Izuna had said that the clan head is supposed to come to such affairs.

But Madara-sama? He is in a discontent state of half wakefulness, not entirely present.

"You're letting the cold air in."

She smothers a laugh at the grogginess in his voice and in one swift motion bundles the blankets off the futon. "It wouldn't matter if you were up, 'dara-sama."

He's up in a moment, a mulish half scowl affixed to his lips.

"I preferred being warm."

"But you are up now." She hurries, finds him a new pair of socks, which he pulls on whilst staring straight ahead as if half dazed.

"I very much blame you for it." But there's no heat in these words, no true anger, just a little bit of irritation tinged with something like resignation to being awake once more. There's a fondness in them too, a tinge of warmth.

He rises, casually pulling a haori over his shoulders, sighing deeply as he pulls her closer. "Thank you for this."

It is warm to stand there, to revel in the feeling of being held, to know that she is cared for, that he cares for her.

But still, "We have to go visit Naori-san and Riku-san. Izuna said you were supposed to."

"Yes," he says. "I rather suppose we should."

* * *

"Madara-sama?" It's Riku-san who welcomes them. "And Kanae-hime, please, do come in."

He seems… surprised, that Madara-sama had come at all.

 _So Izuna left some things out then._

Or perhaps, Izuna had not lied so much by omission as he'd led her with assumptions. _The clan head is supposed to go to these events,_ he said. _The clan head. Is supposed to,_ he said.

Not specifically that his _elder brother_ goes to these sorts of events.

So her brother-in-law does have a manipulative streak in him then, asking her to make sure that Madara-sama arrived. How amusing that it is so.

"Congratulations." Madara-sama says to the rather shell-shocked Riku-san. "I hear you're about to have a baby."

"Oh, well, yes." Riku-san blinks several times as Madara-sama trudges his way into the house, hunched over to conserve the most amount of body heat possible.

It is amusing that he is this way, so bothered by the cold.

She'd found him a coat he'd bundled himself in too, one that he'd huffed over, but had taken anyway despite it making him " _round_."

She herself preferred a simple yukata, light cloth shoes and bare legs. It is not even that cold, but by the way he fusses…

By the way he fusses, it is as if he is an old man chilled by the harsh blizzards of February.

"Oh, Niisan!" Izuna says when they are within earshot of him, a steaming mug of tea in hand. "I'm so glad you made it!" There's a terrible innocence in his boyish grin.

There's something about Izuna that makes him seem younger than his twenty-two years, an air of mischief and amused fondness.

Madara-sama sends him a particularly irate glare and mutters something about kicking, wells, and horrible little brothers.

Izuna beams.

She will allow Izuna his entertainment this time, she supposes. It is not as if he'd done it with any malice. Izuna's manipulative streak seems to run towards similar tastes as the Twins.

He preferred if for amusement's sake, and if it will inconvenience someone? All so much the better, but certainly not much in the way of _hurting_ anyone.

And because it is innocuous and meant for amusement, she leaves it be, even if she herself had been a prop in the joke this time.

He laughingly presents Madara-sama — who grumbles but sinks gratefully into a seat — with a cup of tea before returning to his own chair.

It hadn't been a long walk, but the end of his nose is red.

She tweaks it lightly, giggles when he turns his disgruntled gaze on her, also. He huffs at her, obligingly drinks his tea and continues muttering about his dissatisfaction with the state of the world.

Riku-san looks like he's been caught in some suspicious looking action, both shock and a vague air of bewilderment suffusing him.

From the other room, something suspiciously like a cross between a muffled scream and a curse can be heard.

Izuna winces. "That sounds like it's going well."

Riku-san almost whimpers.

Kanae pats his hand. "I'm sure it's fine," she says with a confidence she does not exactly feel. She's fairly certain Naori-san had screamed something about Riku-san. Something not to be repeated in polite company. "I'm sure Naori-san will forgive you later, even if she says she is definitely not forgiving you at all."

At this, Riku-san _actually_ whimpers, so perhaps she is not being as helpful and encouraging as she thought.

Still, she hardly thinks he will be unforgiven for long.

People often say things they do not mean in the heat of anger. It does not mean that words spoken in anger do not have weight. She knows that all too well, has heard it often enough to know that the sting of such words do not fade even with time, even when accounted for and paid for, even with apology, even with tears.

Repentance is not quite enough for harsh words to be erased from a heart.

After all, there's only so many times words spoken in anger can be taken back and apologies be believed.

Perhaps this is why she forgives Madara-sama so easily, she thinks. It is not that he is not an angry man, or a sad one, but rather how much his blame turns in on himself instead of lashing out at others.

 _Would I still have loved you just as much if you'd blamed everyone else but yourself?_

 _Would I still have fallen in love with a man who cared for the destruction of others instead of destroying himself first?_

And the answer might be _no._ It would be the gentle thing to say — _yes I would always have loved him no matter what —_ but that is not reality.

She watches him from her seat by the table, the way he wraps a hand around the ankle he's pulled up over his knee, the way his hair falls to one side a few bangs loosely free floating about his ear though he's tied it back hastily with a leather band, the childish face he makes at Izuna.

And she knows very well that yes, she can stomach his darkness, but only because the lightest parts of him shine so very bright.

When they finally open the door to let everyone waiting in the front room, Riku-san is first of course, if only because Izuna very unhelpfully prods at Riku-san's shoulder until he starts forward as though in a daze.

"A healthy baby girl." Inami laughingly turns to Riku-san. "Congratulations."

Naori-san smiles, sweaty under all the exertion she'd been through these past few hours. "We have a daughter."

This seems to jolt him into action as he hurries forward to see.

She leans her head against Madara-sama's arm. "They look happy." She tells him. And indeed they do look that way.

He hums, softly enough, but makes no comment on the scene before them, not for a long time anyway. "She is not the first child born to peace."

She thinks this statement over, weighs it on the balance of what she knows about him. "Not the first does not mean she is not important."

"No," Something settles in him, finally righted to its proper place. "No, it does not."

When they pass Kyoko-chan around for him to hold, he slips both arms around her, cradles the head and neck more gently than she'd have expected of someone who doesn't know if he likes children. But then, that is his nature, always more gentle than other people expect of him.

* * *

"Madara-sama?" She stops him before he falls face first back into bed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Mmm?" He turns to her, blearily, the bags under his eyes more pronounced than they've been for quite some time. "What is it?"

"Will you teach me more about your traditions?"

He makes a confused noise, a cross between a hrm and a hah before he processes the sentence completely. "What traditions do you think I have?" He tugs on her hand. "It is time to sleep."

She frowns. "It is almost time for breakfast."

"I shall fall asleep in my miso soup," he declares as though this were the most natural thing in the world. "If I get there in the first place."

This would be funny if it weren't also so...frustrating.

"But breakfast?" The Shimura are arriving today, or so the advanced notice had said.

"Don't make it." And after a few moment's thought, "we can always go somewhere else to eat."

"And the Shimura?" To be perfectly honest, sleeping in sounds pleasant. If only _responsibility_ did not naysay this.

"Not if I'm asleep." He falls backwards back into bed fully dressed, dragging her with him as he goes. "And you can't go if you're asleep either. Condolences."

* * *

Of course, because they _had_ fallen asleep and then proceeded to have a very fun late lunch whilst eating barbequed ribs someplace in a restaurant Madara-sama had found, they altogether missed when the Shimura arrived.

It was all terribly irresponsible and a little bit embarrassing.

And just when she thought it was all said and done, a heavy sheet of paper arrives at the dinner table.

"Shimura Idate wants to speak to me." He sets the paper down. "What should I say?"

"Invite him to dinner." She picks up the note, scans it for the contents. He'd frowned so heavily when he'd read it, deep creases appearing about his lips. "We don't know what he wants."

And now she can see why.

He who does not find himself important, despite knowing full well that he _is,_ that without him there would be no village, can only take this request written in such idle flattery as nothing more than a lie, an attempt to lick his boots before they'd even spoken, and she knows how much that discomfits him in the end.

"Neesan's right." Izuna adds. "We don't know why he wants to see you here instead of at the Tower."

She will have to talk to Izuna later, ask him what had ruined Madara-sama's confidence so. It is a conversation they ought to have by now.

The eldest child of a clan head, a beloved son, the leader of a clan is by all rights a man who should swagger through life aware that he was born to power and knows full well how to wield it.

Her own Chichi-ue did not often do so, but he had not been born to power the way Madara-sama has.

"My home is personal," he says, the frown on his face still deep enough that she wants to smooth it away. "He will see neither Hashirama nor Tobirama here."

And that he expects other people to want to see Hashirama or Tobirama but not him, perhaps that could break her heart.

 _There would be no village without you. Hold yourself at least as important as the other men._

But she knows that he does not. She knows that he does not.

She knows that he does not, but it is so strange that she more than half wonders why.

"He has already spoken with the Senju." Izuna says suddenly as if remembering something he hadn't considered particularly important. He'd been out of the house early again a few days ago. "I heard it from Hikaku who heard it from someone else."

He'd not been out to see Hikaku, who'd come around to the house to talk to _her_ and hadn't mentioned Izuna. She'd seen him walk out of the district and had not thought much of it until now when she knows that he is _lying_ to his elder brother, but that is beside the point.

She can always ask him later. Maybe there's a benign reason.

"So he wishes to play both sides." She muses. "I wish Neesan told me what Shimura-san talked about with Hashirama. Then we would know if he has any differences we need to be concerned about." Did Shimura Idate intend to mislead him? Did someone think that there was a rift that could be driven between her husband and Hashirama?

She would be rather disappointed if this were so. She'd counseled him once, gently to trust, and would rather that the Shimura took this as a sign of kindness and trust, a hand offered plainly instead of an opportunity for a knife.

"It's likely not that serious." He sighs and returns to his plate.

It is no _longer_ so likely to be serious. A year ago? It would've been much easier then.

But she does not mention this. It isn't the right time.

"Well, we won't know until he's here." She starts to clear the dishes, wonders if it's too soon to draft a letter to Chihaya-chan to ask her to come and visit.

Izuna nods in agreement. _We must talk, you and I, little brother,_ she thinks. _There will be time for that I'm certain._

"It's settled then." Madara-sama mutters, his mind already elsewhere, fixated perhaps upon the coming winter rather than the matter of the Shimura. "I'll ask him to dinner."

Shimura Idate will come to dinner then.

And then they will see.

And then they will see.

* * *

It takes about a week or so to arrange dinner preparations and to decide on a time and date.

He must've forgotten the time because she finds him frowning at the door, the sketch beside him pooling with ink.

There is something very endearing about the befuddled way he stares into the distance, the way his thoughts are a sea wide enough to sink into. Sometimes they take too dark a turn and he ends up in lands too terrible to stay in for long, but nearly _all_ of his thinking spells are large enough to consume his thoughts.

Today though…

"You are staring at the door." She cups his cheek with a hand, a quiet tinge of amusement warming her heart at the slight noise of confusion he makes when he realizes that she's blocked half of his view of the doors. "Has it offended you? You seem to take offense to it."

"Remind me to paint the doors," he mumbles, still half glaring at the doors, what he can see of the doors. Still absently, he kisses her palm, a quick turn of his head enough to brush his lips against her palm."I don't like plain doors."

"You don't like…" Ever since she moved in, this house has been mostly spartan. Over time she'd thought, since he'd never decorated that this was how he preferred things, that he found himself amused with her own little knick knacks despite feeling no desire to deal with such things himself. "I thought you liked how the house is."

"I…" He almost laughs, not exactly in amusement, but certainly not in grief. "I like decorations."

Well, this is certainly new information. She should make the most of it. "Why didn't you tell me before?" She pats his head, sparing a small thought for how _fluffy_ his hair is, before continuing to tease. "Never fear, you won't have to look at bare walls ever again."

Oh, he looks so concerned. _Do you think I shall cover the walls with koi fish?_

"What do you plan to do to the walls?"

"Fill them with paintings of koi fish, of course." She will not do this of course, but it is fun to tease, and perhaps to joke about this. "Don't you like paintings of koi fish?"

"No, I do not." He scowls at her, but his eyes are laughing. "I do not want—"

She catches the sound of footsteps in the courtyard, and suddenly their joking turns to propriety once more, her perfectly arranged tea tray balanced across one arm.

The door opens, and a middle aged man steps through, then a small child, no more than eight years old. Shimura Idate...and his son?

A man who is _perhaps_ not here to sow dissension, but it could also be a clever ruse.

Tanaka Shishou had been very good at bringing a small child with him to hide that he was about to sow discord and chaos in his wake.

It works better if the child in question is cute.

But patience is a virtue. With enough patience, she will find out.

"It's good to meet you, Shimura-san." She smiles, all warmth and glamour.

Shimura-san bows to her, and the child does the same. "It's good to meet you as well, Uchiha-san, Uchiha-dono." How interesting.

She is Uchiha-san to this stranger despite never truly giving up the name her father gave her. But then, it means that her efforts to call herself Uchiha Kanae has succeeded.

Or perhaps, Shimura-san doesn't know her full name.

Madara-sama inclines his head in greeting. "Shimura-dono."

He sounds more formal than she is used to, a slight lilt in his voice that is unfamiliar and strange coming from his mouth.

"And how do you like it in Konoha so far?" She asks the child, younger children are easier to appeal to than their parents, and this is a child younger than Taiko.

The young Shimura frowns. "It's crowded." His heavy eyebrows draw together stormily, and he frowns. "And dirty."

"Danzo! Konoha is nothing of the sort." Shimura-san looks nervous, as well he had right to be even if Madara-sama is not the type to fly into rage over the words of a child.

At least, she knows well how his rage rarely turns outwards, knows how much his patience has grown.

"Konoha is certainly dustier than any camp. And there are more people who live here than a village." His words are mild, almost gentle with a caution she rarely hears from him.

He is trying, trying so hard to be kind, to mend what reputation he can, even if it is one that is undeserved.

Konoha _is_ dusty in ways that Uzu isn't. A city of stone and sand is very different than the yellow earth and wood chips of a newly built city, buildings springing up every which way.

He is unlikely to be angry, but she is sure this does not amuse him as it amuses her.

"Perhaps we should break bread first before we speak of how well you like it here, Shimura-san?"

"Ah, well. If it would not be a bother…" Shimura-san's gaze flickers between them, trying to decide which one to listen to, as if he expects an explosion.

Does he not know that Madara-sama is not a man of explosive rage?

 _He expects our marriage to be an unhappy one, that these faces we present him to be lies._

And yet that assumption so easily made is an untrue one, and the idea that it'd been made at all makes her sad.

Madara-sama is no fool. He is no fool and surely he can feel the hesitance, the _fear_ in the air, and if he does not feel it, he will assume it given his tendencies towards self suffering.

"I invited you here for dinner." He offers her his arm, though she'd felt him stiffen just a moment earlier, felt him catch himself from appearing upset and making everything worse. "So dinner before business is only reasonable."

"Supper is ready." She sets a hand in the crook of his arm, smiles because she doesn't want to give any sign of _discouraging_ the progress he's trying so hard to build. "Do not be so afraid of offending us that you cannot speak the truth, Shimura-san. We are not so different from the people you know."

They are no different than other people really. A young man. A young woman. Two people who come from different lands who share one dream and a marriage that binds them together.

So many people have walked the path they're walking, and she doesn't hope that they walk it better than everyone else, only that they walk it well.

Shimura-san relaxes slightly, seeing no storm imminent.

And that is all she can ask for.

* * *

"What else have you thought about Konoha?" The conversation had been stilted, a little quieter than their typical dinner conversations where Izuna would tease and Madara-sama would huff and she would laugh herself silly over things that have very little impact.

But now the conversation has come back around to Shimura Danzo-kun who chews on his bottom lip for a while before responding. His father's admonishment about Konoha being dirty must've reminded him to be tactful.

"It's louder."

The observation is seriously made, but then, everything about this child has been serious so far — serious eyes, a serious mouth, serious words.

She wonders what sort of world has made this child of seven or eight so quick to weigh his words and say only precisely what he means.

"There are more people," Madara-sama hums. "Neighbors are loud."

A subtle dig at the Hyuga next door who have long been huffy, even though they dare not retaliate against her, if only because they _still_ fear Madara-sama for reasons undisclosed.

She suspects it is because he'd killed someone important to that clan in the past. It is not exactly a _welcome_ thought to think about her husband, but she'd married him knowing that his hands weren't clean and would never be clean.

It is not as if her own hands are clean, so who is she to point fingers and make hypocritical judgements?

Perhaps the only men she's loved dearly as family who have clean hands are Naosu-jisan and Masato-nii and that is only because one is a medic and the other a craftsman.

"Have you been leader of the Shimura for long?" Izuna asks breaks the silence that follows.

"Eight years." Eight years is not a long time. Long enough to cement a leadership, but not long enough for most of the clan to forget that they have lost a clan head, especially if the former leader was beloved.

She well remembers when Okui-san had passed of illness and old age, remembers the way that Chihaya-chan had come to her crying one night, a mention of how her uncle would never be as dear to her heart as her grandfather.

Okui-san had died and left a hole too large to be filled, footsteps deep enough that other feet dare not tread his path easily.

But now she is reminiscing of things best left to the past.

"That is longer than I have led this clan." Logically, she knows this, knows that Madara-sama — who is only twenty-four — has not long been leader of the Uchiha, but it is still a surprise to hear this, to realize that even so, he'd been a teenager put in charge of the lives of hundreds of family members. "I believe I still have much to learn."

"I'm sure you must have to worry much more than I do."

"Anyone who leads has to worry."

The conversation is still riddled with awkwardness, but it has shifted a little, both men taking each other's measure so that they can understand each other better.

Eventually, they might even be acquaintances, or friends. It is too early to tell which path it will take, but she rather suspects that Shimura-san is attempting to be genuine in the face of someone he fears, which ought to make him admirable.

It ought to, but if he has so long been in Madara-sama's company without coming to understand that Madara-sama is hardly demonic, then he is a bit wooden as well, and she finds it hard to admire that.

After some time, Madara-sama rises, and Shimura-san follows him.

* * *

She sits on the porch, absently eating apple slices with Danzo-kun in the faded evening light. It comes earlier and earlier now, and soon it will be quite dark even before dinner.

"You're very quiet," she remarks between one apple slice and the next.

Another reason Fire Country delights her beyond the paper and the lightness of the wooden furniture, fruits are in abundance and quite tasty and cheap.

All food beyond seafood is abundant and cheap here.

Izuna had told her that in port cities and small coastal villages, seafood is cheap as well.

"I do not trust you very much." Danzo-kun says, around an apple slice that he'd managed to _not_ cram rudely into his mouth, but it is clear that he is hungry, and she doesn't begrudge him really. A child's manners are to be taught by their parents, and he is not _her_ child, so he can do as he likes.

"Why?" He'd trusted her not to harm him enough that he'd told her to her face that he doesn't trust her, which implies some level of trust to be had.

"You're too nice." He frowns at her, eyebrows drawing together. "No one is this nice to strangers."

"We are not entirely strangers," she says though she knows full well that she knows very little about him beyond his name and he knows perhaps, even less about her. However, that is not entirely the point.

The point is that he is a guest in her house, a child who has come to a new place to build a different sort of life than he'd expected and she would _like_ to not be a stranger.

His hand freezes around another apple slice. "You're not very honest either."

Perhaps he sees her a little bit more clearly than other people do. There's plenty she doesn't say even if she thinks or feels a certain way about it.

She decides she rather likes him, if only because he is angry in ways that are _unlike_ the ways that her third brother or Madara-sama might feel.

"Maybe not." She look away, out at the courtyard the light falling over the eaves. "Is that a bad thing?"

"You aren't very old either." He does end up taking another bite of apple.

It is possible to win him over. It might just take a bit longer, a little more time than someone else.

"Are younger people less trustworthy?" She wonders what Shimura-san and Madara-sama are talking about in the house, if it bodes good or ill.

There's not much she can do specifically, but it doesn't mean she doesn't wonder. She expects to hear about it soon.

"No."

She almost laughs at this, but she doesn't because she rather suspects that this is a child who would not take her amusement kindly.

"Is anyone trustworthy?" she asks him.

He considers this for a moment, taking another bite of apple as he does so. "Not really."

"That must be an exhausting way to live." She says, and rather wishes he would stop lying to himself. Saying those two words — _not really —_ was far more painful than anything else he's admitted so far. "I can't imagine what that would be like." And it is true that she, who trusts rather easily unless given reason to believe otherwise, can not imagine what sort of life she'd have to lead to end up like so at age eight.

"You're saying that to be nice again." He scuffs the bottom of his shoe against the yellow dust she hasn't found the time to sweep off of the flagstones yet.

"No, I really don't understand what that's like."

He studies her with those very dark eyes, lips pressed tightly together into something resembling a pout. "But you are his wife."

And so it circles back to Madara-sama in the end.

One of these days, he will trust her with the darkest parts of his past, but that day is not today, not tonight nor tomorrow, and she will trust that he will speak about this eventually.

"He is only a man." She leans her head against a hand, dusk falling all around them. "All men have people who trust them."

"You must be very stupid then." He mutters, the bowl between them empty now.

"And yet you're still here." She gestures idly at the empty bowl. "You could go."

He looks away, truly discomfited at last. "I shouldn't."

"Why not?" She does laugh a little at this. "I don't think leaving could make me more offended than you telling me that I am, as you say, 'very stupid.'"

"Auntie Naomi was about to die." He says very seriously, and she wonders if he was born this serious or if something else in his life had taught him to be this way. "And now that we have moved here she won't."

So there _are_ people in his life that he loves and would endure random conversations with ladies he doesn't think are very honest for.

"I see."

Suddenly the reason why Shimura-san is here is illuminated.

Like son, like father.

This is an expression of gratitude of sorts.

* * *

The morning of Madara-sama's birthday, he wakes at a reasonable hour.

"You're awake." She laughs and slaps a hand over his eyes. "There's a lot to do." She has to get him out of the house for at _least_ the better part of the afternoon.

After all, this party was not hers to plan, but the clan's, and the clan had gotten very festive and excited for it indeed.

So she will have to do her part in hiding it from him, at least for a time.

"What do we have to do?" There's a softness that clings to his words this early in the morning, something of a hopeful kindness to it when he is truly at peace with himself.

"Hmm." She considers it. It _is_ his birthday, and he turns twenty-five this year. "Since it is a special day…Maybe we should only do what you want to do today."

"And if I want to go nowhere and do nothing, will you stay here with me?"

 _If you wanted to go everywhere and do everything I would still go with you._

"Of course I will." Gently, she traces the line of his cheekbone up to where it meets the bridge of his nose, then back down the other way around his jawline and ending at his chin.

He hums, the sound low in his throat, a cat, purring perhaps if she wanted to tease him with such a thing.

Ah, but then perhaps he would feel too self conscious to do it again, and she rather likes it when he's like this.

"Then stay."

She arranges herself into a more comfortable position, resting her head on his chest, a hand over his heart. "Alright."

Like this, she can feel him breathe, feel the beating of his heart beneath her palm if she presses her hand flat, feel how easy it was to make him happy.

It is such a simple thing.

 _Stay?_

 _Alright._

Signs of life.

"Will you tell me about how you learned to paint?"

He laughs, and she feels that too and is glad for it. "Why do you think I know how to paint?"

"Because your peonies are beautiful." He'd taken down several door panels to complete a series of paintings, first roughly, then more polished as he grew more sure of himself.

The last had been a series of peonies, she'd paused before for a long time.

She'd seen peonies only once, when she'd spent the summertime in a warlord's court in Fire Country, when she was thirteen years old.

They'd been the most beautiful flowers, she'd ever seen, and while the painting didn't exactly capture all the technical details, it'd reminded her of their soul, of petals softer and more fragile than silk.

"We spent the winter in Kakunodate once, as guards to the Daimyo's daughters." His mind wanders back into memory, his words meandering in and out of focus. "I think I interested the court painter. He'd never met a shinobi so ready to leave Honoka-hime's presence."

"Ah." _How cruel a fate,_ she thinks with more than a little amusement. _To try so hard to avoid the attention of one princess to end up married to another._ "You learned to paint while you were shirking your duties."

"She looked like she had something perpetually caught in her eye," he grumbles, retaining an unfortunate amount of irritation. She almost feels sorry for poor Honoka-hime who likely never understood why he was so keen to avoid her. _You were a breaker of hearts long before you met me, I see._ "There was too much blinking going on."

"Oh, I _see_ ," she pushes herself up so that she can see his face. "Something like this?" She blinks slowly at him. "Oh, _Madara-sama how strong you must be. I am certain I never met anyone who could even compare to you._ "

He chokes. "How did you—"

 _Oh? This is most amusing._

She wasn't aware this sort of thing worked on him, or she would've tried it much sooner, because his face is turning a very becoming shade of dull red. "And how beautiful you are that your eyes haunt me so."

He opens and closes his mouth several times, though he does _not_ manage any words during this except for a series of very disgruntled noises.

"You're baiting me." He sounds bereft somehow. Clearly, no one taught him how to play this game. It would be cruel to continue. "Why?"

 _My poor lost husband._

 _So oblivious to the games women play._

"Oh, so she was flirting with you." She laughingly presses a kiss to his forehead. "And you didn't even notice."

"She most certainly was _not_." Is it sheer determination to deny it until the end? Is it that he simply doesn't believe it? Or is it something else? "She simply had eye problems. I am glad to be rid of her."

She buries her face in the space between his shoulder and his neck, shaking with uncontrollable laughter. "Glad to be rid of her! Oh, I can't even imagine the disappointment."

* * *

They walk along the river together, close enough that she could reach out and touch him, but not holding hands. It had snowed, presumably last night, a light and fluffy snow that rarely happens in Uzu, though he'd told her this is often the only snow that is likely to occur in this part of the world.

"I met Hashirama for the first time on the other side of the river here." He pauses at a nondescript portion of the riverbank. There's something far in his eyes, a past she doesn't understand. "Back then, it was all forest."

It is no longer a forest now.

"And now the home you built is behind you."

"I suppose." He takes her hand. "There is much to celebrate as well as much to grieve."

Grief. Even on a day like this, it lingers.

She swings their clasped hands back and forth as they continue walking along the river. "And today is a day to celebrate."

"Is that why you were so happy to leave the house?" he asks. "There are people being ordered about by Izuna right now, aren't there?"

"I don't have any idea what you mean." She'd thought perhaps that he wouldn't notice, but it seems like he's adept at picking up trends that other people don't want him to notice.

"So we can go home now then?" he asks, and has the audacity to sound amused at her plight.

She imagines Izuna's lips wobbling, imagines Momo-chan being so _disappointed that_ 'Madara-sama saw his surprise!' It had been mostly Izuna and Momo-chan's idea.

"No, we should keep walking." She can't fail them now. She's gotten him out of the house already, even though he would've preferred to lie about doing nothing all day. "There's no hurry to go home since we finally came out to do things."

He squishes her cheeks together, amusement alight in his eyes. "So you admit it then. They are planning a party, and they need me to be out of the house."

How had he guessed? Who gave the game away?

"I admit nothing." She pouts at him, though this is hard to do around the squishing of her face until she appears rather like a chipmunk being forced to cough up all her secrets. "Nothing at all."

He laughs, the sound golden. "So cute you are in your denial, and they are beloved even in their deception of me."

"It's not a deception!" She turns to face him fully, holding both his hands. "It's a surprise." It is not meant to be a _lie._

He raises his eyebrows at her most unfairly. "An ambush is not a deception now?" _  
_"A surprise is not an ambush!" It is _not — I told him there's a surprise._ "Oh no, I ruined the surprise." She could cry really. What would Izuna think? What would Momo-chan think? To know that she couldn't keep a secret for even a few hours?

Even though Madara-sama is terrible at figuring out secrets?

"I will pretend to be surprised." He pats her shoulder gently. "They will not know you gave it away."

"But Madara-sama," it is not the _same_. It is not the same and that is what bothers her. "That is not the same as truly being surprised."

"That is probably for the better." He brushes his lips against her temple, a quiet touch. "I would hate to hurt someone during a happy occasion."

"Oh, " She had not thought of that, had not thought of what it would mean from him, a man so long used to war. "Well, that's true." It _is_ best that no one gets hurt. It _is_ best then that he knows ahead of time. All that really remains for her to do is to spend a happy morning and early afternoon out with him. "Well, we can go back to the teahouse, and..."

* * *

 **A.N.** I am sad to say that I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to map out when exactly all the different moving parts of this chapter took place, because of everything that needed to get done within the timeline provided because of how I write these chapters. Nevertheless, it is here, and I pulled it all together in the end.

Thank you so much to everyone for your support. It truly makes this whole process much more fun to hear your thoughts!

~Tavina


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